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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27728075">Smokeless Fire</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnakeStaff/pseuds/SnakeStaff'>SnakeStaff</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Spirit Azula (Avatar), War, Zuko (Avatar) is a Good Brother</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:27:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>69,538</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27728075</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnakeStaff/pseuds/SnakeStaff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>During her visit to Ember Island, a twist of fate leaves Azula trapped as a spirit creature and stuck to Zuko. But that's nothing the Princess of the Fire Nation can't handle. Right?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Azula &amp; Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>96</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>255</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>A:tla</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Lantern</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Waves rolled gently over the sea shore, the moon and stars shone brightly overhead, and the dying embers of a former beach house crackled merrily in the distance. Princess Azula walked quietly down a black sand beach, alone – <em>still</em> alone – with her thoughts.</p><p>The night had been a rather mixed bag, all told. Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee’s reminiscing by the fire had left her feeling strange. She still wasn’t sure what had provoked her own slip of the tongue, but like any imperfection it left a bad taste in her mouth. What was worse was failing to secure a partner when even Zuko had managed it. She exceeded him in all things, so why was he able to pair up with her apathetic friend despite so many clashes while she couldn’t convince a boy to join her? She didn’t understand it, and what she didn’t understand irritated her. On the other hand, torching the beach home of that fool who had spurned her had been quite therapeutic.</p><p>Still… the implied failure on her part still stung a bit, which was what had brought her out here in the first place. She needed a short while to consider the problem where no one would see before she could approach it again with her usual confidence. In the meantime, uncertainty implied weakness, and weakness in front of others was unacceptable. That much she had known from childhood.</p><p>Azula walked along the beach, hands folded behind her back and pondering the issue. She wanted to find a date of the male persuasion – that was what girls her age were expected to be doing, the strange fluttery feelings in the pit of her stomach urged her to do it, and most importantly of all she couldn’t allow Zuko to have anything she didn’t. Why was it so oddly difficult, then? She was the conqueror of Ba Sing Se, surely, she could conquer the heart of some fortunate boy?</p><p>Maybe she had been too gentle the first time around? Fear was always the most reliable way of getting someone to do what you wanted. It wouldn’t be too difficult to simply order a boy of the right background and whom she found adequately attractive to join her in social merriment. Once someone spent enough time around her, they’d have no choice but to like her eventually.</p><p>It was while the princess was mulling over potential solutions to her romantic woes that she felt a sudden, sharp pain on the sole of her left foot as she stepped on something hard. Silently vowing to cook the thing alive for interrupting if it was a buried turtle crab, she took one step back and lit up the palm of one hand. The soft blue glow revealed neither an animal nor a rock, but instead a slight metallic glint poking just out of the volcanic sand. Azula raised an eyebrow.</p><p>She had walked a good distance from Lo and Li’s beach house, further out towards Ember Island’s less developed side. There weren’t any houses around here, and there weren’t likely to be any people either – precisely why she’d chosen to come this way. Slightly curious in spite of herself, Azula crouched down, gripped the edge, and tore the offending object free from the sand in a single expert move.</p><p>It was a lantern, she realized almost at once, though an unusual one. Regaining her feet and holding up a low flame to it, she immediately recognized it as antiquated, tarnished bronze. A short, squat cylinder was sandwiched between what looked for all the world like a pair of curling house roofs. Azula turned it over in her hands, noting that while there was a hinged panel counterproductively covered in smoky glass for light to shine out of, there was no apparent way for smoke to escape. How was this thing supposed to function if the fire inside would inevitably smother itself in seconds? Further, there were extremely worn traces of script visible here and there, none of them characters she could read. Considering her education, that was rare indeed.</p><p>“Alright you,” Azula murmured as she turned it over in her hands again, “what’s your secret?”</p><p>In her own mind, this odd antique had challenged her by interrupting her train of thought. And while she certainly wasn’t above declining a challenge if it was more advantageous for her, it was equally true that she enjoyed them when they came. An opportunity to demonstrate mastery in even the smallest of ways ought to be seized with both hands.</p><p>As she went back to walking along, the princess examined the lantern from several angles, looking for some way it could actually function. But no matter where she looked the little irritant continued to be solid, albeit corroded, bronze with no exit holes of any kind. It occurred to her that it might be intended to house luminescent crystals similar to those she had witnessed beneath Ba Sing Se. But even if that were the case, it was still terribly designed, seemingly meant more to smother light than to broadcast it.</p><p>After a short while of trying to puzzle it out mentally, Azula sighed and decided that there was nothing for it. Setting a light inside it herself was hardly as intellectually stimulating, but it was certainly better than conceding a second defeat of the night. Two fingers poised for firebending, she flicked open the little glass panel with her thumb.</p><p>That very instant, Azula felt a clenching, burning sensation wrapping around the deepest levels of her gut, and had only a split second to realize that she’d just made a terrible mistake.</p><hr/><p>Several hours later, a concerned-looking Ty Lee was pacing the interior of Lo and Li’s small beach house, looking furtively out over the balcony for any sign of her friend’s return. It was, part of her knew, completely irrational, but she couldn’t help feeling that for some reason Azula might be in trouble.</p><p>“Where is she?” the acrobat asked herself, wincing as she stepped on a squeaky board.</p><p>“Azula said she might be gone a while,” came the answer from the next room over. “Can you keep it down?”</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Ty Lee popped her head into the bedroom, where Mai and Zuko had already retired for the night on those lovely seashell bedspreads. “But it isn’t like Azula to just spend the whole night wandering off alone all the way into the wee hours of the morning.”</p><p>“Yes it is,” said Mai and Zuko simultaneously.</p><p>“Besides,” Mai continued, “she wanted to be alone. I’ve been there. Just leave her to it.”</p><p>“Aren’t you worried about her at all though?” she asked.</p><p>“Are you kidding me?” Zuko barely looked up. “Azula’s the scariest thing <em>on</em> this island. I’m more worried for anyone she runs into.”</p><p>Ty Lee considered that for a moment.</p><p>“Okay yeah, you’re probably right,” she admitted. “But for some reason I just have the feeling that she might need help.”</p><p>“Azula can take care of herself,” Mai said, rolling over. “And you can stop wearing a hole in the floor while some people are trying to sleep.”</p><p>"If she isn’t back by morning, promise we’ll go looking for her?” Ty Lee pleaded.</p><p>“If it’ll make you quiet down,” Zuko grumbled, pulling the blanket over his head.</p><hr/><p>The moon went down and the sun rose again, and the princess didn’t turn up. The three remaining teenagers and two old women had a light breakfast of fruit and eggs, and she still didn’t turn up. Zuko and Mai headed back to the beach for another sulking session and managed to ignore the downcast acrobat for almost an hour before she just got too pitiful looking to turn away from any longer.</p><p>That was why, in spite of his own better judgement, Zuko found himself walking north along the beach in search of his perfect younger sister. Mai had gone south, and Ty Lee was checking the houses and the island’s interior. He knew it was pointless – Azula had wandered right through multiple warzones and directly into the heart of the enemy capital to overthrow its government. To think that she couldn’t burn down half of Ember Island by herself if she felt threatened by anything was absurd. And he’d like to see the tiger shark that thought it could make a meal out of her.</p><p>She’d most likely just charmed or forced her way into a nicer beach house, one with private rooms that didn’t smell like old lady. By now she was probably running it, Zuko thought as he wandered down an empty beach far from the island’s developed side. She’d turn up, well-rested and well-fed, with a new entourage of terrified lackies, whenever she felt like it. With everything else going on in his head, he couldn’t bring himself to feel concerned.</p><p>It didn’t take too long for his mind to wander back into the same morass of confusion from the night before. He had everything he’d been wanting for three years, and he still wasn’t happy. If anything, he’d been angrier these past few weeks than before. Why? What was missing? He’d done the right thing back in the Earth Kingdom, or at least he told himself that he had, and still he hadn’t found any peace. His father… well, he couldn’t quite convince himself that Ozai loved him, but at least he respected his son now. His honor had been restored. He was back home and on vacation with his cranky girlfriend. So why did everything still feel so wrong? He didn’t know, and he didn’t like the feeling.</p><p>The scarred prince had been marinating in his own murky thoughts for a good little while when he rounded a bend and spotted something unusual. There, just lying out on the black sand, was a weather-beaten bronze lantern of obvious foreign make. Junk washed up from the sea wouldn’t normally interest him, except it was midmorning and there was a faint glow coming from inside the darkly tinted glass. Someone had to have been here recently to light it, but there was no one else on the beach, and no footprints in the sand. A glance told him there was no one in the water either.</p><p>And besides, who needed a lit lantern for a cloudless day on the beach?</p><p>That made him curious enough to give the little piece of flotsam a second glance as he meandered by. What he saw made him pause.</p><p>"It’s blue…” he muttered.</p><p>He’d recognize the sapphire glow dimly perceptible in the morning sun anywhere. The prince immediately looked around again, but still saw no signs that anyone else was anywhere near here. He looked down, and the sand still showed nothing but the smooth flow caused by lapping tides. Three years’ worth of tracking experience told him that that wasn’t possible, that there had to be some physical traces left from so recent a trail. But no, nothing. So, what? Azula had flown down here, set a fire in a lantern for no apparent reason, then flown off again? It didn’t make any more sense than the rest of his current life.</p><p>“She can’t have been gone long,” Zuko said as he picked the strange little thing up. “This thing’s not big enough to burn for hours.”</p><p>He looked around, scowling and more confused than before. It was low tide and had been for several hours, there was no way that even his sister shouldn’t have left some physical sign of her passing. The prince looked the lantern over for answers and found none, not even a thin trail of smoke from the flame inside. The flickering blue fire seemed to taunt him in that moment.</p><p><em>“Poor, stupid little Zuzu,”</em> it seemed to say. <em>“Can’t figure it out, can you?”</em></p><p>Irritably, he opened the hinged portal to snuff the annoyance out. It exploded in his face.</p><p>Zuko dropped the lantern and reeled back with an arm over his head as a veritable geyser of blue fire erupted from the tiny opening, enough to sear the rest of his face from his skull. The torrent hosed him down as the bronze thing fell to the black sand, but it didn’t burn. In fact, it passed right through him as though he weren’t even there. As he took several steps back, the prince could feel an odd tingling sensation spreading down his limbs, accompanied by a sense of presence and weight he couldn’t place.</p><p>The next moment he flinched to see the flames burst out of him, right from his chest. This time the blue blaze slammed down onto the beach as a fireball. It spread and coalesced, taking on a more definite form before rapidly solidifying. Zuko stared, took a step back, rubbed his eyes, and took a second look. There, on one knee – the last place he ever expected to see her – was his younger sister. Her head was bowed and her eyes closed, a passive expression on her face. Behind her, the strange lantern was dissolving before his eyes, bronze aging away to dust on the wind in scant seconds.</p><p>The moment passed quickly. Below him, Azula gave a faint groan and shook her head, hand on forehead. She looked up at her brother, squinting – then leapt to her feet faster than a three-legged frog viper.</p><p>“Azula, what-”</p><p>“I have no idea,” she cut him off immediately, brushing black sand from her legs and long skirt. She looked back up at him with a very unpleasant scowl on her face. “And as far as you’re concerned, <em>nothing</em> happened. Do you hear me?”</p><p>Zuko scowled right back. That was Azula alright.</p><p>“Yes, I spent a night on my own on the beach, amidst peace and quiet with no one around,” she finished brushing the last of the sand off her forearm, putting her hand on her hip. “And then you found me here, with nothing unusual to report. That’s all. Understood?”</p><p>“Azula, what’s going on?” Zuko demanded. “What happened with that weird lantern, and how-”</p><p>“Do you ever pay attention, Zuko?” she interrupted, walking right up to him. “Nothing happened, and that’s that. That’s all you need to know.”</p><p>“I need to know why my creepy sister vanished last night and showed up this morning as a fire blast in a piece of old junk.”</p><p>“No, you don’t,” Azula said simply, as if merely stating a fact. “Now out of my way, I have to-”</p><p>She’d rested her hand lightly against Zuko’s shoulder, then pushed. Or tried to, at least. Zuko could see her arm move, watched the lean muscles contract, but he… felt nothing. There was no force being exerted on him. Not that he could tell, at any rate. His sister appeared to redouble her efforts for just a second, arm twitching momentarily against him, and still there was no pressure. Azula looked up at him with an unfamiliar expression, then almost immediately settled back into a scowl.</p><p>“Hmph,” she snorted, simply stepping around him. “Like I was saying, I had better get back to our friends,” the princess said as she set off at a brisk pace. “I’m sure poor Ty Lee must be worried sick about me.”</p><p>“Like you care,” Zuko muttered as he watched her go, evidently eager to get away from this place and whatever it was that had happened here. This was too weird, adding another layer of confusion to his already troubled mind. He rubbed his forehead.</p><p>His sister didn’t make it far. Only a few hundred feet away Azula gave a sudden half-shriek and halted, arms twisted awkwardly behind her back. Zuko looked up to see her soft shoes digging deep into the sand, as if struggling to drag something along. He blinked a few times, rubbed his eyes some more, and stared again. Her wrists were both stuck behind her, and no matter how much she tugged and strained at apparently nothing the princess couldn’t seem to make them budge.</p><p>“Well don’t just stand there!” she barked back at him as she continued to pull. “Come on already!”</p><p>Zuko took a sudden step towards her. Azula toppled over forwards onto the beach.</p><p>“Azula, what’s going on?” he demanded as she picked herself up, closing the distance while she had to brush even more black sand off herself. “Something really strange happened here, and you know more than you’re telling me.” </p><p>“Don’t I always?” Azula muttered sourly, then spit out a few grains of sand.</p><p>“Yes, and this time you’re going to fill me in. I’ve got enough to think about as it is without wondering what’s wrong with you.”</p><p>“And if I choose to keep <em>my</em> business to myself?” the princess crossed her arms.</p><p>“Then…” Zuko looked around, eyes settling briefly to his right. “Then I’ll go sit by that rock in the shade and not budge an inch until you start talking.”</p><p>“You think you can threaten me?”</p><p>“Let’s find out.”</p><p>Zuko walked right over to the smooth stone beneath a nearby palm tree, sat down on the sand, and reclined there with his hands behind his head. Azula blinked, frowned, and turned around before marching around a nearby bend and out of sight. It wasn’t long before his ears caught the telltale sounds of straining, of grunting, even the *fwoosh* of firebending. Even in a mood as foul as his, he couldn’t resist the urge to grin a little. Maybe he wasn’t as good at underhanded scheming as his sister, but he wasn’t <em>that</em> oblivious.</p><p>It was a good half hour or more before Azula finally slunk back towards where he sat with an uncharacteristically defeated expression on her face. She looked bitterly down at her brother, one hand rubbing her temple.</p><p>“What…” she slowly hissed, “do you want to know?”</p><p>“What do you think I want to know?” he glanced up. “What’s going on here?”</p><p>“I don’t know everything,” she admitted, leaning against the tree. “Just a little bit.”</p><p>“Then tell me what you do know.”</p><p>“Look,” his sister sighed. “All I can tell you is what the instincts in my head are telling me. And what they’re telling me is that I’m now some sort of… <em>spirit creature</em>,” she all but spat the words.</p><p>“And why can’t you go far from me?”</p><p>“I don’t know.”</p><p>“You’re lying,” Zuko looked up at her, accusation writ large on his face.</p><p>She chuckled humorlessly. “This inconvenience must be putting me off my game, if even you can tell.”</p><p>“You don’t want to tell me something important.” It wasn’t a question. “But I’m not going anywhere until you do.”</p><p>“Would you believe me if I told you that I’m to be your guardian spirit now?”</p><p>Zuko just gave her a look.</p><p>“Didn’t think so.”</p><p>Azula sighed, running a hand through her long black hair, and then stared off into the gently roiling ocean.</p><p>“…Because I supposedly owe you,” she admitted after a lengthy pause. “I’m bound to serve the desires of my ‘liberator’. Three desires, to be exact. Three wishes I’m supposed to grant with whatever power this state bestows on me.” Azula looked at her hand. “After that’s done, I vanish to Agni knows where and do it again for someone else.”</p><p>Zuko stared up with more than a little suspicion in his eyes.</p><p>“It goes without saying that I’ll do no such thing, of course,” the princess put her hands on her hips. “We’re going back to the others and telling them that nothing happened, and when we return home you and I are going to find a cure for this… condition.”</p><p>Zuko said nothing.</p><p>“Now come on,” Azula beckoned him. “I’ve told you the embarrassing secret you so desperately wanted to hear, now it’s your turn. Get up, and let’s go and find Mai and Ty Lee. Being alone out here is depressing.”</p><p>“Fine.”</p><hr/><p>“Azula!” Ty Lee waved cheerfully a few minutes later, running over towards them with a big smile on her face. “You’re alright!”</p><p>“Well of course I’m alright,” the princess shrugged, right before her friend’s arms wrapped around her shoulders. “After all that time we spent travelling the Earth Kingdom together, you surely can’t think I’d go soft in a single night?”</p><p>“Well, no, but…” she wavered a second. “I just thought you, um, might be lonely.”</p><p>“A girl can’t have one night of privacy without everyone thinking the worst? You made Mai and poor Zuko go out looking for me.”</p><p>“I…”</p><p>“Don’t worry though, I forgive you your presumption,” Azula hugged her friend back just a little. “This time.”</p><p>“Thank you Azula,” Ty Lee smiled, squeezing much more tightly.</p><p>Zuko snorted.</p><p>“Oh look, Azula survived her night on the beach,” came the familiar monotone from not too far down the shoreline. “There’s a shocker.”</p><p>“It’s good to see you too, Mai,” the princess pulled away from the acrobat.</p><p>The pale girl just looked unmoved.</p><p>“I suppose I should thank you for your concern, even if it was wholly unnecessary,” Azula continued with a slight aside glance at Zuko. He didn’t contradict her.</p><p>“Now then, we didn’t come here for worrying, we came for a bit of fun. And nothing says fun quite like victory.” She eyed a nearby net. “I think a nice morning game of kuai ball should get us back in the proper mood. Come on, let’s find some victims.”</p><hr/><p>Hours passed relatively uneventfully, at least from Azula’s point of view. Oh, sure, kicking around one group of hapless teenagers after another was certainly a good time until they ran out of nets, but it failed to distract her mind properly.</p><p>She just couldn’t stop thinking about it. About the fact that she was, as she had not been in a long time, <em>vulnerable</em> to someone else. And to Zuko, of all people. Why did it have to be him that she was stuck to? The gnawing sense of weakness, of wrongness, simply would not go away. When she humiliated others in sports, it was there. When she ate a frozen treat, it was there. When she reclined on a mat, soaking up the sun’s rays, it was there. Taunting her, mocking her from the edge of her awareness, sapping the enjoyment she might otherwise have gotten from a pleasant day at the beach.</p><p>The princess never went far from her brother during that time, not nearly as far as she knew she could. She absolutely refused to countenance a potential public display of weakness; this whole episode was humiliating enough as it was. She just had to remain calm, be patient, and find a solution. She knew that, intellectually. But knowing was one thing, perfectly controlling the underlying unease was another.</p><p>Fortunately, Zuko was just as broody today as he had been the day before and didn’t seem at all inclined to blab to anyone about what he had seen. Azula was never far away, and even when she might have been mistaken for napping her ears were constantly trained on her brother. He never dropped the slightest hint, even to Mai, that anything was off about her. Then again, he didn’t say much of anything.</p><p>It was getting later in the afternoon, the sky beginning its slow transition to orange, when Lo and Li returned from doing… whatever people their age did in the water. She didn’t care to think about it. She flagged her two elderly teachers down as discretely as she could.</p><p>“There’s one thing that I’ve been meaning to ask you about while we were here,” Azula said softly when they were close. “In my reading, I vaguely remember coming across the name of a spirit supposedly connected to this place. Something called a… djinni?”</p><p>Lo and Li looked at one another, each with one hand on their chin in that eerie synchronization that seemed to come so easily to the elderly twins.</p><p>“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” both said simultaneously.</p><p>Azula couldn’t quite keep her face from falling.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading this far. I would very much appreciate your feedback, this story is a bit outside my usual comfort zone.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Library</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dinner that night was a subdued affair, at least compared to the night before. Mai of course was rarely talkative, Zuko wouldn’t stop brooding, but even Ty Lee didn’t seem to be as energetic as usual. Azula had caught her friend’s grey eyes stealing glances at her more than once while she ate her sashimi, though she quickly looked away whenever the princess eyed her back. That left Lo and Li to regale the teenagers with anecdotes about their own experiences on Ember Island when they had been their age.</p>
<p>Azula herself was in a pensive mood as she gulped down another piece of raw fish, only half listening to the twins tell the story of how they had both inadvertently wound up on a date with the same boy at the same time, with none of them being the wiser. It seemed ludicrously implausible to her of course, the idea that no one could tell the sisters apart was beyond contrived. It was so simple, she thought as she glanced from one to the other, Lo was… Li was…</p>
<p>Azula ate another bite and frowned just a little.</p>
<p>It hadn’t escaped her notice that she wasn’t truly hungry. Nor, for that matter, was she full. She could still taste the local dipping sauce when it rolled around on her tongue, could feel it go down her throat, and then nothing. She’d already eaten a bit more than her strictly regulated diet would normally call for and didn’t feel any different than she had all day.</p>
<p>She didn’t feel tired either, the princess observed while Lo described the time she had swapped out for Li in a surfing competition. She’d been out and about for most of the day, played sports for a sizable percentage of it, and her limbs didn’t have that dull, satisfying ache that came with physical activity. Her eyes weren’t drooping, her thoughts weren’t slowing. Azula wondered if spirits needed to sleep.</p>
<hr/>
<p>No, they did not. As a matter of fact, they <em>could</em> not.</p>
<p>Azula lay out on her bed, eyes closed and comfortable as could be, and felt nothing at all. Her mind would not shut down, that pleasant fog that preceded rest refused to come. She tried tossing and turning a few times, added an extra pillow, even went through childish mind games designed to lull the mind to sleep. It all had no effect, she was as awake and alert as she had ever been, denied a good night’s repose by the very nature of her present being. Maybe, she reflected, that was why so many spirits in the old tales were so irritable all the time.</p>
<p>Now there was nothing to distract her. Nothing to do but think while she feigned sleep to avoid any appearance of abnormality. While yes, she was quite good at thinking, right now the only topic she could really focus on only served to make her angry.</p>
<p>It wasn’t <em>fair</em>. It was a stupid complaint, Azula’s colder side knew perfectly well. Life was not fair. But the feeling would not go away. She was the prodigy, she was special, she was beloved by her father and worshipped by the Fire Nation. Fate favored her, and it rightly ought to. Only Fire Lord Ozai was worthy to command her. She didn’t deserve to be handed over to the likes of her mewling brother for one small mistake. She shouldn’t feel an unbreakable chain around her wrists, shouldn’t have undeniable knowledge that if he said two simple words she would be compelled by her own constitution to obey. She didn’t deserve this! Zuko didn’t deserve this! Destiny was <em>cheating</em> her of what was hers by right!</p>
<p>Clenching her jaw a little, Azula attempted to force the unwanted feelings back down by sheer weight of willpower. Her fingers, curled around cruel fate’s imaginary neck, slowly unclasped and she breathed deeply. Raging against the slight to her just position wouldn’t do her any good. Anger was useful to a point, Father had taught her, but allowing it to rule her mind would see her burnt up as easily as anything else. It was energy to be harnessed, but like the rest of her feelings it ought to be a humble servant to her rational mind.</p>
<p>Rolling over in her bed and curling up somewhat, the princess made herself consider the situation in the most detached manner she could. She was, however temporarily, trapped in this spirit form. She could not break free by sheer power, nor could she lay a finger on her brother to coerce him directly. On the condition that the words “I wish” were used by Zuko within earshot, she knew there would be an irresistible compulsion to obey three times. This form had power of some sort, how much precisely she did not know. The energy she could feel inside of her wouldn’t respond to her own commands, wouldn’t reveal its limits to her. It didn’t belong to her. She was just containing it for someone else.</p>
<p>Azula’s brow furrowed. She was <em>no one’s</em> slave.</p>
<p>Swallowing her outraged pride yet again, she continued mulling it over. Chains of a few hundred feet, compulsion to obedience, effective neutering of her martial superiority over her brother, unknown levels of power, what else? Oh yes, she didn’t have the first idea of how to undo any of this and her teachers had never even heard of the thing she knew that she was. That about summed it all up for the moment.</p>
<p>What was the point? She already knew what the plan was – to research this condition in the capital’s vast archives when they returned home tomorrow morning. Thinking about it now wouldn’t do anything to change that. But her brain refused to let her consider much else for very long, and her body refused to allow her to sleep. What else could she do but think about it? Nothing else – not her prowess, not her political status, not her plans for the future – mattered one whit while she was bound to obey the will of another. If Zuko wanted her to get out of the way and allow him to claim the throne uncontested then she would simply have to do it, irrespective of all her desires to the contrary. These chains had to be broken before anything else had even the slightest relevance. Everything else would have to keep.</p>
<p>Azula had been rolling around in her bed for hours, fruitlessly dissecting her situation over and over again for a nonexistent answer, when her ears caught the telltale sounds of rustling sheets, followed by the soft creaking of bare feet on old wood. Immediately, she flattened herself and lay perfectly still, the very picture of peaceful rest. She waited until the sound had passed her by before cracking open one eye a minute fraction.</p>
<p><em>“Having trouble sleeping too, Zuzu?”</em> she thought as she watched her brother’s back disappear out the curtains. <em>“It’s not even sunrise yet.”</em></p>
<p>Her brother hadn’t been gone long before there came a squeak from the other room. Azula quickly closed her eye again as the occupant of the bed next to hers began to stir. Ty Lee had always been a light sleeper. The princess continued to feign sleep and simply listened as her circus friend clambered out of bed and walked right past her.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Ty Lee’s voice in the next room was distant and marred by the sounds of the ocean, but Azula’s ears were intimately familiar with the fine art of eavesdropping. She had no difficulty at all catching every word. “It’s pretty late. Or early, I can’t tell yet.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” came the gruff sound of Zuko’s voice. “So?”</p>
<p>“So, what are you doing up? Not getting enough sleep will make you even more grouchy.” There was a pause, and then the acrobat continued in a softer voice. “Bad dreams?”</p>
<p>“Something like that,” the prince admitted.</p>
<p>“Are you doing alright?” the concern in her friend’s voice was obvious. “You’ve been a downer this whole weekend.”</p>
<p>“No, I’m not.”</p>
<p>“Is there something I can-”</p>
<p>“No,” he cut her off.</p>
<p>“Oh…” Ty Lee lapsed into silence for a time, leaving just the nearby crash of waves to fill the air. “If there’s nothing I can do to help you, what about Azula?”</p>
<p>“What <em>about</em> Azula?” Zuko replied brusquely.</p>
<p>“Her aura is looking strange,” the princess could hear Ty Lee saying over the crash of waves. “It’s… diminished. Almost hollow somehow. I’m not sure how to explain it, I’ve never seen anything like it.”</p>
<p>“Why are you telling me?” her brother asked. “Why not talk to her?”</p>
<p>“Well first because you know she wouldn’t admit to anything even if there was a problem. And the other reason is because…” she trailed off.</p>
<p>“Because what?”</p>
<p>“You’re gonna think this sounds weird,” Ty Lee hesitated for a bit. “But your aura suddenly looks a bit like hers.”</p>
<p>There was a brief silence. “…what do you mean?”</p>
<p><em>“Yes, what </em>do<em> you mean?”</em> Azula thought, an unpleasant feeling in her gut telling her that she already knew.</p>
<p>“Normally, your aura is red and yellow, and of course a bit of black thrown in. Well, more black than usual recently. But I’ve never seen blue in it before, until you and Azula came back together. Now it’s about half blue. It’s like you took some of her aura into yourself or something.”</p>
<p>No response was forthcoming.</p>
<p>“Zuko,” the acrobat’s voice was gentle. “I just want to make sure that the two of you are alright. Did anything happen out there with you and Azula? Anything at all?”</p>
<p>“No,” he said. “Nothing.”</p>
<p>“Alright,” Ty Lee sighed. “If you’re sure…”</p>
<p>“I’m sure.”</p>
<p>“Goodnight then, I guess.”</p>
<p>Zuko grunted something even Azula couldn’t make out. A minute later, the curtains in the entranceway parted and Ty Lee returned to her bed. It wasn’t too much longer before the prince followed suit, snuffing out the last of the light. All was soon quiet save the gentle sounds of the nighttime ocean, leaving a sleepless princess alone with her thoughts and the unpleasant emotions gnawing at the edges of her mind.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The journey home was muted, to say the least. Azula didn’t have much to say about Ember Island, her thoughts almost obsessively revolving around the only important thing in her life at that moment. She spent the time mostly at the ship’s prow, staring at the manatee whale pulling the unpowered craft and silently urging it to swim faster. Once or twice one of the others tried to talk to her, but she rebuffed them as calmly as she could.</p>
<p>When the little wooden craft finally arrived at the capital’s docks, Azula was the first one off and into her waiting palanquin with barely a moment wasted. The servants proved as woefully lacking as the domesticated animal, trudging so slowly out of the harbor that part of the princess wanted to pull her own hair out. She’d decided they were all getting dismissed before the group had even reached the base of the immense road up to the capital proper. They might whine about the steep trek and the heavy weight and the need to maintain unhurried royal dignity, but those were no excuse. If she wasn’t so conscious of propriety – and also tied to her brother in a nearby palanquin – she would have gladly hopped out and ran right up the slopes of the dormant volcano herself.</p>
<p>The princess counted, it took her useless servants forty-seven minutes, fifteen seconds to get from the harbor docks to the rim of the volcano, and another eleven minutes, thirty-two seconds to traverse the caldera city proper to the palace gates. Once the Imperial Firebenders had cordoned off the inevitable crowd of curious onlookers, the very moment the palace gates closed behind her, she had already half-leaped from her tedious transport without bothering to wait for it to be set down. Azula folded her arms, tapping her foot impatiently as her brother waited more properly for his own servants to pull aside the veils and let him step down.</p>
<p>The siblings set off together at a much slower pace than Azula would have liked, the lack of control over her own fate burning her from the inside out. Nonetheless, she had no choice but to match her pace to Zuko’s unhurried one as the doors were pulled open in front of them.</p>
<p>“So,” he said quietly once they were inside, “what are we supposed to be looking for?”</p>
<p>Azula carefully eyed the doormen and guards behind them, making sure they were out of earshot before she spoke.</p>
<p>“Anything that mentions wish-granting spirits, cursed lanterns, or…” she disliked using the word. “Djinni.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Come on…” Azula’s eyes scanned over another old scroll, found nothing of relevance, and tossed it with an uncharacteristic carelessness onto a growing pile covering a nearby table.</p>
<p>“The servants are going to have a hard time putting all these back in order,” Zuko noted from a few shelves down, likewise reading through a musty old scroll.</p>
<p>“And?” Azula looked at her brother with a raised eyebrow.</p>
<p>Zuko didn’t reply, setting the scroll he was holding back onto the shelf from whence it had come. Azula was tempted to roll her eyes. Tasks like that were what servants were <em>for</em> – the entire reason for their ultimately insignificant existence was to hoist their betters, the chosen few, onto their shoulders to shine all the more brightly. That was what Father had always said. If they could spare her the tedium of restacking shelves while she focused on what was truly important, then they ought to be thankful for the privilege.</p>
<p>The siblings were deep in the Royal Archives and had been for the last several hours. It was the single greatest concentration of knowledge in any territory claimed by the Fire Nation, the great libraries of Ba Sing Se possibly excepted. It was the best hope Azula had of learning more about her condition – that is, while remaining discreet. There was no way, absolutely no way, that she was going to admit to anyone that she was in a position of weakness to Zuko of all people. She just needed to know what to do, how to cure it, and this whole embarrassing incident could be swept under the rug without anyone being the wiser.</p>
<p>But so far, the shelves had turned up empty. Oh, there had certainly been all sorts of myths and legends, from oral traditions describing the Ruchong Zou to peasant superstitions about the Painted Lady. But Azula didn’t need folklore and the rambling of long-dead Fire Sages, she needed concrete facts. As her eyes tore through another useless old mythical morality tale, the princess rubbed her temple in frustration, fighting the impulse to lash out at whatever failed her. But that would be pointless – the correct scroll wouldn’t be frightened to the forefront just because she began torching its siblings. With a sigh, she tossed it into the ever-growing pile and picked out a new one.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Zuko said quietly, perhaps half an hour later. “This looks like something.”</p>
<p>“Let me see that,” Azula suppressed the urge to move with unseemly haste, instead taking the proffered scroll with all the dignity and poise her station demanded. It was a simple list, compiled by some man a few centuries dead to judge by the smell of it. Nothing but a collection of many and varied supposedly supernatural creatures described by the countless bits of folklore across the Fire Nation archipelago. There were hundreds of such things, most likely pure fabrications, but as her golden eyes traveled down the alphabetical order, they finally hit on some small nugget.</p>
<p>“Djinn,” the princess read in a quiet voice. “Spirits of smokeless fire said to have been cursed for some forgotten crime by the great spirits, of whom Agni is the greatest. With lives, souls, and fates bound to objects and then to the humans who wielded them, they perished to the last before even the founding of the Four Nations.”</p>
<p>Azula blinked. That was it? That couldn’t be it. There had to be more to this. What did spirits of smokeless fire have to do with cursed lanterns washing up on the shore? Why would this supposed curse affect a human? What could she do to get out of this… save the one thing that she liked the least of all?</p>
<p>“I don’t suppose that there’s any more by this… Lee?” she asked after a moment.</p>
<p>“There’s a million Lees,” Zuko shrugged. “But I’m not seeing anything else that old by one.”</p>
<p>“Of course there isn’t,” Azula slumped back into a nearby chair, tossing the scroll aside and pinching the bridge of her nose.</p>
<p>“So, it looks like you’re stuck to me then,” Zuko said quietly, almost thoughtfully, taking a seat right next to her.</p>
<p>“Don’t rub it in,” Azula rubbed one temple with two fingers. “I like the idea of having my soul stuck inside you even less than you like it being there.”</p>
<p>“I can believe that.”</p>
<p>“Look…” she gave a defeated sigh, before looking her brother in the eye. “It’s your lucky day, Zuzu. Since it doesn’t look like we’re going to find a cure in here, I’m willing to make a deal to get this over with now.”</p>
<p>“Go on,” he said after a moment.</p>
<p>“…Two,” Azula said slowly, reluctantly. “I’m supposed to grant you three wishes. I’ll give you two.” She uncurled her hands. “No tricks, no traps, no wordplay, no unpleasant surprises of any kind. Just two of your heart’s desires, granted to the best of whatever ability I have in this form. And all you have to do in return is use them right now, swear to use the last one to put me back to myself, and forget this ever happened.”</p>
<p>Zuko looked down, saying nothing for a good little while.</p>
<p>“Do you want that scar off your face?” Azula pressed him after a few minutes of silence. “I know I can make that happen. Even better, I think I can make it so no one even remembers that you were ever disgraced. You’ll be the hero prince who left voluntarily to slay the Fire Nation’s greatest threat, and came back home beside me the conqueror of Ba Sing Se.”</p>
<p>“You think I’d be happy living a lie?” he asked quietly.</p>
<p>“Maybe you’d prefer something more… personal?” she replied quickly, ignoring the urge to point out that he was already living one of her lies right this instant. “I know you and Mai have been getting even closer lately, maybe-”</p>
<p>“Whatever you’re going to suggest I do to her, don’t,” Zuko growled.</p>
<p>“If you don’t want my help with your romance, then so be it.” Azula shrugged, then glanced around to double check that they were alone. She leaned in close. “You wouldn’t visit Uncle if you didn’t still care about him,” she whispered so softly it was barely audible at the distance of a few inches. “Do you want him somewhere safe? Somewhere anonymous, where Father can never find him again?”</p>
<p>Zuko’s eyes widened a bit, but then he looked away from her. Azula sat back and crossed her arms.</p>
<p>“All I’m saying is that I have a lot to offer you,” she went on. “And I’m not asking much, really. I just want my freedom back. Think about it, Zuzu. I kept my word after Ba Sing Se when I could have taken all the glory for myself. I have even more motivation to keep it here.”</p>
<p>“I know what you did,” he said, his voice accusatory.</p>
<p>“If you wanted, you could always make a wish just to be sure,” she offered.</p>
<p>“You’re really eager to sell me on this.”</p>
<p>“Wouldn’t you be?”</p>
<p>“Probably,” Zuko acknowledged, before getting up from his chair. “But no deal.”</p>
<p>“What?!” Azula hissed, leaping to her own feet as her brother began to walk away. “Zuko, I’m being as reasonable as I can be!” she hurried after him, grabbing his shoulder with one hand. He ignored her, and try as she might, she couldn’t exert the slightest pressure to slow him down.</p>
<p>"I know,” he said simply, and kept walking.</p>
<p>“Then what do you want from me?” she demanded as they went. “Do you… want me to get on my knees and beg you for my freedom? To call you… to call you…” her teeth were grinding together at the mere thought, but necessity forced her tongue, “Master?” she hissed.</p>
<p>“No thanks.”</p>
<p>“What can I offer you if you don’t want wishes and you don’t want groveling? You can’t want me to be bound to you forever!”</p>
<p>Zuko paused, then looked her in the eye. “What if I do?”</p>
<p>“I… I… what?” Azula found her usually-keen mind drawing a complete blank. “Why would you want that?”</p>
<p>“It seems like you can’t do nearly as much damage like this,” he said, then continued walking out of the Royal Archives.</p>
<p>“You’re that frightened of me?” she walked quickly after him. “You’re so scared of what I might do that you’re willing to chain me to yourself for the rest of your life just so I can’t harm you?”</p>
<p>The two had exited the dusty library by now and were walking down the hallowed halls of the palace itself. Fine tapestries displaying the great deeds of Fire Lords past and present hung on the walls around them, portraits of victories won, lands conquered, and colonies founded. Azula clammed up as they walked by a pair of servants, only speaking to her brother again when she was sure they were completely alone.</p>
<p>“Are you afraid I’ll try to take revenge on you for this humiliation when I have my humanity back?” she asked. “Is that it? Do I need to swear an oath to you that I’ll forget all about this? I’ll do it, on my honor, on our family, on any spirit you like.”</p>
<p>Zuko looked back at her, and Azula found to her own surprise that she couldn’t get a read on that impassive expression on his face. “Azula always lies.”</p>
<p>With that, he turned his back on her and continued walking. He’d only made it a short way before she started to feel the tug of the metaphysical chains around her wrists.</p>
<p>“Zuko!” Azula called out after him. “Wait! We can talk about this!”</p>
<p>They couldn’t.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Plan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Azula sat alone in her darkened room, surrounded by a semicircle of candles glowing a soft blue. She took slow, deep breaths that she was completely aware she no longer needed, strictly regulating the flow of energy from her body. Even with her eyes closed, she knew that the flames on each and every one of the candles were the exact same height, burning at precisely the same rate. A perfectly symmetrical octet, an immaculate display of complete control to be kept up for as long as she wished to meditate. By regulating her breath so precisely, by tuning her mind to asserting her will on even the most trivial details, she suppressed any wayward emotions and kept that inner calm so essential for all the best plans.</p>
<p>But the difficulty here was in coming up with a plan. She was boxed into a corner with no clear way out. Her brother held all the leverage, and she suspected even he was intelligent enough to realize it. The only way she could see to reclaim her humanity was for him to wish for it. That meant she couldn’t just wait for him to use the word “wish” in some ill-advised sentence within earshot, she had to convince him to actually do it for her. If he just burned through them all without restoring her, then she would likely never see the light of day again. At the very least there would be no hope at all of claiming the throne that was her birthright. That meant she had to find some angle, some way of making him feel obliged to release her. He was foolish enough to prefer honor to gain, so if she could find a way to make him swear to her freedom, she knew he’d hold to it. To do that, she’d have to dangle something he really wanted in front of him that he could get no other way.</p>
<p>But that was the trick, wasn’t it? He didn’t seem to know quite what he wanted, so how could she? A mind in turmoil was difficult to predict. The most obvious, reasonable compromise she could give him had already been turned down flat. What more could she give than she had already offered? Especially something he couldn’t just take from her with two words.</p>
<p>It was like trying to climb a sheer cliff with no handholds and both arms tied behind her back.</p>
<p>The thought of going to Father for aid was dismissed as soon as it appeared. Even if he believed her, even if he was willing to force Zuko to release her, she knew he’d never look at her the same way again. From that day forward she would always be the pathetic girl who got herself chained to her weakling brother and had to come crawling to daddy for help. That was truly shameful weakness, and in Ozai’s eyes there was no greater sin.</p>
<p>Threats and blackmail were certainly an old specialty of hers, but in this case there was the small problem that her life was bound to his. What pain he felt, she would feel. If he died, she died. While she didn’t doubt her ability to endure far more than her brother – she exceeded him in that as in all things – it was difficult to imagine a scenario that she could concoct that he couldn’t just wish his way out of. She didn’t truly know what the limits of her spirit-self’s potential were, but she felt certain that dismantling any set of circumstances she herself could construct would be within them.</p>
<p>And finally, there was the potential trump card. The one phrase that had plagued her thoughts from the moment she’d realized her situation, one that might occur to him at any minute. Assuming that it already hadn’t. If Zuko had half a brain – and he was related to her, there had to be <em>some</em> minute spark of intellect in there – he’d realize that he could force her into perpetual servitude any time he wanted. A wish for her to serve him loyally and obediently all the days of his life was as valid as anything else, well within her spirit form’s abilities.</p>
<p>A cold spike of fear pierced her carefully cultivated calm at the very idea, candles guttering low around her. Blue flames flickered erratically as she grimaced, fighting her own mind for control. But the more she tried to avoid thinking about that awful possibility, the more she did, and the more chills ran down her spine. A lifetime of groveling at the feet of her pathetic, inferior, <em>unloved</em> older brother frightened the princess in a way no gruesome death ever could. It would be nothing less than the utter nullification of her very being. Thoughts too dark for even her lay down that path, separated from her mind only by rigid effort of will.</p>
<p>Azula breathed deeply, focusing her intellect through years of long practice. One by one, she asserted herself over the candle flames, purging all else from her mind until they became perfectly sculpted again. When she had restored balance to the fire, her own sense of terror had been forced back down towards her subconscious. Her native confidence was already rising to take its place. Yes, things looked bad for her, but she was Princess Azula, Fire Lord Ozai’s perfect child. She would overcome this as she had overcome everything else that stood in her way.</p>
<p>Besides, consigning his own sister to a lifetime of servitude didn’t seem like the kind of thing someone like Zuzu would relish. Agni knew why, she’d certainly enjoy doing it to him if their roles were reversed, but he had strange ideas in his head about proper conduct and honor and all that rot. On the other hand… when had Zuko ever had such a golden opportunity dropped in his lap before? The last such moment was in Ba Sing Se, and whatever his current feelings the fact remained that Zuko had rejected Uncle and taken the chance when she’d given it to him. And before this she wouldn’t have said that chaining his little sister to himself sounded like something he’d do either, but he’d surprised her. Maybe there was more ambition under that scarred exterior than she’d thought.</p>
<p>Azula took another unnecessary breath, willing her candles to burn faster. It was no use ignoring it, there was a possibility he might be more willing to force her to bow to him than anticipated. The best way to prevent that was to end this farce as quickly as possible. Barring that, avoid provoking that volatile temper of his. There had to be an angle she didn’t immediately see, something that she could use to pry her freedom out of his hands when the time came. Until then, she would have to be quiet, be patient. Don’t give him any reason, well any further reason, to want revenge on her. She’d have to rely on that idiot sense of justice to keep herself safe for a while.</p>
<p>The princess sighed, and her meditation aids simultaneously extinguished. It wasn’t exactly a plan, and it was far from ideal. But right that moment, it was all she had.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Pacing the floor alone in his private chambers, Zuko was confused.</p>
<p>It wasn’t a new experience for him by any stretch of the imagination. He’d been confused, been lost, since the debacle that ended the Siege of the North and his own apparently permanent exile shortly afterwards. Wandering aimlessly through the Earth Kingdom, infiltrating Lake Laogai, serving tea at the Jasmine Dragon, fighting the Avatar alongside his sister, even coming home to a hero’s welcome and his father’s approval, none of it had made him feel any more certain about anything. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do or why he felt so discontent, or who he was even supposed to ask for advice about it.</p>
<p>Now he just had something else to be confused about.</p>
<p>What was he supposed to do about Azula? Having his sister following him around on a leash was hardly anything he would have chosen, but now that it had happened he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, even if she did possess some weird spirit powers to use on command – he remembered what had happened to Zhao, he couldn’t discount that she just might – only a total idiot would trust her to grant anything. She’d taken the glory of “slaying” the Avatar and made it a potential milestone around his neck. If he asked her to get rid of his scar, she’d probably make it disappear for a day just to laugh at him when it returned the next. And asking his sister for help with Mai… Zuko could only imagine her sicing her pet Dai Li on his crabby girlfriend. Picturing her strapped to a chair with those same creepy lights they had been using back in Ba Sing Se was enough to make his heart lurch.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if he just knuckled under and gave her what she wanted, who knew what she would do? Azula was the best liar he had ever known; she could be plotting the hideous demise of your entire family while calmly drinking tea over a friendly game of pai sho against you. She hated weakness and imperfection, and she hated anyone knowing that she had any of either. Now he here he was the only witness to what she had to consider a horribly shameful moment. Once back to her regular self, how long would it take before she decided that she wanted to blot out that memory one way or another? As long as her fate was joined to his, he didn’t have to worry about any sudden revenge from that corner.</p>
<p>The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. If Azula couldn’t act against him, then that was one less thing he had to worry about while he was worrying about everything else in his life. Father, the upcoming eclipse, his girlfriend, the Avatar his gut told him wouldn’t be dead, the burning questions that continued to plague him, all of it would be that much easier to deal with if Azula wasn’t able to interfere. Once he figured all that out, he’d probably have some idea of what to do about these so-called “wishes”.</p>
<p>In the meantime, he could at least be certain about one thing. Whatever she said, however she flattered, in the end Azula was still the same girl who had been perfectly prepared to strike down her own brother with lightning on that ship’s deck just a few months before. Even Zuko couldn’t kid himself enough to believe she had changed since then. If Uncle hadn’t been there…</p>
<p>Uncle.</p>
<p>The prince gripped his own head at the mere thought of the old man, three years and more of memories bubbling up inside his brain. Uncle looking away on the sidelines of the arena the day of the Agni Kai. Uncle aboard his ship, entertaining the crew. Uncle aboard Zhao’s flagship. Uncle stupidly swallowing the poisonous plant juice. Uncle in Ba Sing Se. Uncle beneath Lake Laogai. Uncle pinned in by a crystal cocoon. Finally, Uncle alone in his squalid cell, back turned on his nephew, his silence more damning than any words could ever be.</p>
<p>Zuko flopped backwards onto his oversized bed, still confused.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Azula was not pious, save perhaps towards her father. Nor would she ever be. That was a simple fact, and she doubted the Sun Father, if he truly did watch over them, would be fooled by any protestations to the contrary. But she prided herself on being a supremely practical woman. If what the scroll had said was true, and what she knew of her condition suggested that it was, then Agni had been one of the spirits to curse the djinn into their servitude and ensuing extinction. That meant that he would be able to help her get out of it, if he chose.</p>
<p>That was what had brought her to a simple altar in her family's wing of the palace. Once upon a time the worship of the spirits, and in particular the Fire Nation’s mythic forbearer, had been a much more pronounced duty of the Royal House. But, like with the nation as a whole, her family’s piety had waned greatly for several successive generations. Her father had even less time for immaterial concerns than Azulon or Sozin, and he had taught her well that uselessly invoking distant and indifferent beings for help was nothing more than the mewling of those too weak to shape their own futures. That this place still existed was a concession more to lack of need for space than anything else, that it was clean and in good condition simple tribute to the dedication of the maintenance staff.</p>
<p>Still, desperate times called for desperate measures, and getting out of this predicament without losing face in front of Father meant that she was willing to make compromises she would never have normally considered. That was why she knelt, placing an offering of tenderly marinated komodo rhino heart on the long-neglected family altar, before ritually pouring a particularly fine and well-aged goblet of spiced wine into the same bowl. After waiting the prescribed ten heartbeats, Azula flicked her wrist and set the offering on fire.</p>
<p>“I swear on my life,” she whispered as the smell of burning meat mingled with incense, supposedly rising to the spirit world, “that if you aid me in this, when I am Fire Lord I will restore what my forefathers have abandoned.” The blue flames continued to crackle. Wine hissed audibly as it boiled. “The Fire Nation will venerate and honor you again as it did before. Through us, all the world will honor you.”</p>
<p>Azula kept her eyes closed while carefully controlling the flame such that it touched nothing but the offering itself, just as the old laws of ritual propriety demanded. Her proposed exchange was reasonable, wasn’t it? If Agni helped her, she would give him something in return. With practically the whole world now under Fire Nation control, a revitalization of its old spiritual practices would see his worship spread further than it had ever been before. She hoped that was a tempting prospect for the great spirit, tempting at least enough for him to ignore her previous apathy towards him.</p>
<p>Azula waited several minutes on her knees to allow her fire to consume every last trace of meat and wine and smolder out before rising easily to her feet. She gave one last formal bow at the waist, eyes still closed, and addressed the man who had been silently standing behind her for the last minute or so.</p>
<p>“You may speak,” she said in a low voice.</p>
<p>“You sent for me, princess?” the man, dressed in the robes of a lowly palace servant, answered with hands folded behind his back.</p>
<p>“So I did. Qiang Ru, isn’t it?” Azula asked almost conversationally.</p>
<p>“Yes, your highness.”</p>
<p>“Of all the Dai Li agents to leave Ba Sing Se with me, I’m told that you were particularly noted for having an affinity for getting a read on the psyche and weak points of potential troublemakers, is that correct?” The princess still hadn’t bothered to turn around to look at him.</p>
<p>“I’m honored that I’ve come to your attention.”</p>
<p>“Of course you are. But that doesn’t answer my question.”</p>
<p>“I… am held to have some small skill in that area,” the man admitted.</p>
<p>“Excellent. Then I have a new target for you.”</p>
<p>“I’m at your disposal, highness.”</p>
<p>“I know,” she said simply. “I want you to observe my older brother. Shadow him, eavesdrop on him, read his messages, do whatever it takes. But make certain that you remain discreet. Find his weaknesses, his hopes, his fears, and bring them before me. I want to know the inside of Zuko’s mind more intimately than he does.”</p>
<p>“I… of course, your highness.”</p>
<p>For such a delicate task, she needed someone who lacked the instinctive reverence for the Fire Lord’s family drilled into every resident of the capital from birth. A servant or guard personally loyal to her would still inevitably harbor some mixed feelings regarding outright espionage against her brother. Even if they suppressed those feelings well, it could lead to some unconscious bias in their reports or, even worse, holding back.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Dai Li were treacherous, selfish cutthroats to the last man. If they cared about anyone else at all, it was exclusively the members of their own brotherhood. Azula knew that perfectly well. She also knew that that same brotherhood had hitched itself completely to her. All of them knew that if she fell there was no one else in the capital who would feel particularly obliged to honor the claims of the “cultural authority of Ba Sing Se”. Agni knew the soldiers occupying the city bristled at having to step so lightly around a gaggle of earthbending secret police. Many of the more idealistic Fire Nation officers viewed the Earth Kingdom traitors as little better than human vermin. The Dai Li feared the consequences of disloyalty to her personally more than they feared the risks of being caught spying on a member of the Royal House. It was beautifully simple.</p>
<p>“Very good. See to it that you don’t fail me, for your own sake.” Azula said. “You are dismissed.”</p>
<p>Qiang bowed briefly at the waist, then walked quietly out the door behind her. The princess opened her eyes to stare at the altar still in front of her. The offering bowl now contained nothing but a few scattered ashes, while the sticks of incense continued to burn. The princess decided to leave the expensive joss sticks where they were. Give Agni something pleasant to smell. It always paid, Azula reflected as she turned to leave, to keep one’s options open.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Chat</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Azula was alone once again, though this time not even in the comfort of her private chambers. Her mopey brother had inconsiderately wandered so far through the halls that she was left with the choice of either shadowing him from a distance or else being dragged along the floor by her wrists. She was fortunate that the palace had enough secret passageways and hidden rooms not to make it entirely obvious to every passing soldier, servant, bureaucrat, and minister that she was never far away from Zuzu.</p><p>It didn’t take the princess long to decide that this simply wasn’t going to work. A few hundred feet of distance – she made a mental note to measure the exact length of her tether at first opportunity – might be adequate if one lived in a peasant home or even the villas of provincial nobility, but the Fire Nation Royal Palace boasted over a million and a half square feet of floor space across its various levels, not even including the adjacent reserved villas and gardens or the defensive perimeter inside the walls. She could be dragged hither and yon the day through and never see the same room twice.</p><p>She would have to acquire his schedule, such as it was, and work her own into it. There was no other choice. Fortunately, she had been setting her own routine for years at this point with Father only occasionally checking in. No servant would dare question how she wanted to do things, and if she chose to get closer to her only brother in the wake of their Ember Island vacation then that would simply be that.</p><p>Azula’s musing was interrupted when she was suddenly yanked wrists-first straight down onto the floor.</p><p>Zuzu had taken the hidden stairway by the southern banquet hall, the princess thought miserably as she looked up. The damned thing went down five floors in little short of a vertical drop. She hadn’t even known that he knew that it existed. Azula was reduced to wiggling along the ground in his apparent direction to gain more slack on her immaterial chains, only just grateful no one was around to see her in this secret room.</p><p>The moment she got enough room to stand, Azula didn’t so much exit as burst out of the hidden passage, run to the nearest window, and leapt right out. In a move she may or may not have stolen from Ty Lee, she grabbed a ledge three floors down and used the sheer momentum of her fall to swing herself right into the window below it, punching straight through the paper covering as she did. There was no accompanying pain in her fingers or arms, part of her noted. No increased heartbeat, or heartbeat at all, no urge to breathe deeply. A thought occurred to her.</p><p>The princess stormed right out of the closed door with an unpleasant expression on her face, causing a nearby guard to jump. The masked firebender whirled around, halfway into a combat stance, before suddenly halting. He took about a second for his brain to kick in, at which point he promptly abased himself.</p><p>“Your highness,” he began quickly, voiced muffled by his helmet, “forgive me, I wasn’t aware-”</p><p>“Give me your knife,” she demanded.</p><p>“Y-Your highness?” he looked up slightly.</p><p>“The uniform of the Royal Procession includes a knife strapped to the left leg for emergency close-quarters fighting and utility, concealed beneath the armor hanging from your waist,” Azula said in a low, silky voice. “Take that knife and give it to me. Is that difficult for you to understand?”</p><p>“No, princess,” the man hurried to extract the short, curved blade from beneath his armor, offering it to Azula by the hilt. She took it without comment, turning her back on the bowing guard and following the pull of her shackles around a nearby corner and out of his sight.</p><p>The blade in her hands was of fine make, steel polished brightly enough to be mistaken for silver joined to a golden hilt ending in a snarling dragon’s head, but Azula had no interest in its artistic qualities nor in the oath of fidelity engraved upon it. All she cared about was whether or not it would confirm her current theory. As she walked briskly towards the nearest stairway, the princess took the razor-sharp edge and ran it along her left thumb.</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>Or, more precisely, there was no pain. Azula could see the thin slice along her skin but felt nothing and no blood emerged. Instead there was a brief flash of blue along the line, and then there was no evidence that the cut had ever been there at all. She repeated the experiment several times on her other thumb, various fingers, her hands and upper wrists, and even her cheeks. The results continued to be the same. She didn’t feel any sort of discomfort at the razored kiss of steel along her flesh, even when she pressed it in more deeply, and any wound made sealed itself almost instantaneously.</p><p>It was an acceptable start, she considered while she pressed a particular spot on the wall and pushed open the ensuing hidden doorway, but mere surface cuts weren’t enough. Before she could rely on this new ability in live combat, it had to be properly tested. And for that, there was only one real way.</p><p>Azula paused, took an unnecessary breath, and stabbed herself in a distinctly nonfatal portion of her gut.</p><p>Out of sheer reflex the princess flinched when she saw several inches of fine Fire Nation steel embed themselves in her insides. She took her hands off the dagger and leaned back against the nearby wall, then simply waited. Once a healthy number of seconds had passed without any pain, adrenaline, or signs of shock from her body, she gingerly gripped the weapon in one hand and pulled. The soldier’s knife came free surprisingly easily, as lustrous and unmarred as it had been fresh from the sheath. Azula ran her fingers down it, noted that the blade was now warm to the touch, and felt around her abdomen. Not only could she not find any hint of a wound in it, there wasn’t even a tear remaining in her clothes.</p><p>She couldn’t help but smirk as she tossed the knife aside, its purpose fulfilled. Apparently, there <em>were</em> benefits to having one’s life and soul stored externally to one’s body.</p><p>Who knew?</p><hr/><p>Azula found her brother sitting alone in one of the many lesser dining rooms scattered throughout the palace, kneeling on a silk cushion overlooking an interior courtyard. He had his back to her, but she didn’t need to be clairvoyant to picture the melancholy look on his face, nor the way he was picking at the food in front of him. She gave orders quietly to a nearby servant, then slipped in behind Zuko. He glanced briefly back at her, then turned away as if he had been expecting her. Which, if he had half a brain, he had been.</p><p>“Hello,” she said softly as she crossed the room, kneeling down on a cushion directly across from his around the low table, blocking his view of the courtyard. “Having a pleasant afternoon?”</p><p>Zuko didn’t immediately reply, picking idly at his bowl of steamed clams, peppers, and onions with a pair of chopsticks.</p><p>“It’s rude not to respond to your guests, you know.”</p><p>“What do you want?”</p><p>“Can’t a sister check in on her older brother without having some hidden nefarious agenda?”</p><p>“You tell me.”</p><p>“Look Zuko,” Azula said with a patient expression on her face. “After what happened on Ember Island, it occurs to me that you and I are in this together now. With the Avatar dead and the Earth Kingdom effectively conquered, it’s time to start thinking about the future. A future that we’ll both make and share.”</p><p>“We both know why you’re here, and the answer’s still the same.” Zuko’s expression was impassive. “So, don’t bother.”</p><p>“Look, putting all that business aside,” she frowned, irritated that he hadn’t even bothered to look behind him before saying that out loud. “The fact remains. You’ve returned home, your honor is restored, and you’re the Crown Prince again. Don’t you think about what that means?” She leaned forward a little. “You’re to be <em>Fire Lord</em> one day, Zuzu. Ruler of not just the Fire Nation, but the whole world. Do you realize just what a big job that’s going to be?”</p><p>“And you want to help me do it, is that right?”</p><p>“I helped you back in Ba Sing Se, before all of this recent unpleasantness,” Azula said in a low voice, eyes instinctively checking the doorway behind him. “Be honest with me, if I had ordered the Dai Li to take you down the moment the battle was over, do you think they would have done it?”</p><p>“Yes,” her brother admitted quietly.</p><p>“And, after having you tossed in prison, if I had chosen to tell Dad a version of the story where the victory was mine and mine alone, do you think he would have believed me?”</p><p>Zuko said nothing, and Azula knew she’d hit a sore spot.</p><p>It was in that moment that a servant made an appearance in the doorway, carrying a small tray. Azula gave the nervous-looking girl a nod. She walked over, set down a bowl of chilled cherries and a steaming hot white beverage in front of the princess. An unusual meal to be sure, but the way the princess saw it if eating for nutrition was unnecessary then she might as well just enjoy her favorite tastes. The woman gave a quick bow, and then departed. The princess was glad to have taught them so well.</p><p>“The point is,” Azula continued, popping a pitted cherry into her mouth, “that whatever you may think, I have proven that I do care about what happens to you when I had no need to.”      </p><p>“And so what, now you’ve just decided to start helping me get ready to be Fire Lord out of the kindness of your heart?” her brother’s eyes were even more narrow than usual. “I’m supposed to believe that you’ve got no ambitions on the throne yourself?”</p><p>“None whatsoever,” Azula lied as easily as she breathed, sipping her piping hot beverage with a smile on her face.</p><p>“Hmph,” he snorted. “You can’t seriously expect me to believe that. I know you were smiling the day I was banished.”</p><p>“And you know I’ve reached out my hand to help you when I had no need to, when I might have benefitted from doing otherwise,” she ate another cherry. “People <em>can</em> change, you know. Sometimes you don’t realize just what you had until it’s gone.”</p><p>“Target practice for your lightning?”</p><p>“If you’re not prepared to believe that I have some affection for you, then how about this?” she leaned in close. “Since you’ve chosen to bind me to yourself in perpetuity and essentially enslave me, I have a vested interest in not seeing you stumble and fall again. A blow to you is a blow to me.”</p><p>Zuko actually looked away from her at that, eyes downcast.</p><p>“I… I didn’t mean it like that,” his voice was low. “I just… can’t trust you right now. I don’t want to hurt you.”</p><p>“Touching,” Azula said flatly.</p><p>“Even if you’re a devious, manipulative, untrustworthy…” Zuko sighed. “You’re still my only sister.”</p><p>“Well, I suppose that’s true, not counting half-sisters of course.”</p><p>“Half-sisters?!” Zuko’s good eye widened like that was some sort of revelation.</p><p>“At least five of them, by my count,” Azula shrugged, taking a sip of her amazake and relishing the sweet taste trickling down her throat. “Though there could be more. And there are three half-brothers that I know about.”</p><p>“W-What?” her brother’s face looked genuinely shocked for a moment, before he shook his head and resumed his customary mask of anger. “You’re lying!” he accused.</p><p>“Zuzu,” Azula had her eyelids half-closed. Her brother couldn’t actually be <em>this</em> much of a dumdum, could he? “You didn’t think Dad had been a celibate monk since Mom disappeared, did you?”</p><p>Agni help her, he actually went red at that and looked away. She sighed and set down her steaming cup, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Her childish idiot of a brother seriously expected to just inherit the throne one day without paying any attention at all to dynastic concerns?</p><p>“Look, I’ll break it down for you since you’re slow. You notice how my personal servants are all women, while yours are all men? While Dad? He has both on his staff.” She paused to allow that to sink in. “Every so often one of the servant women will come down with ‘mysterious’ symptoms and disappear from palace life. She’ll turn up a few weeks later in one of the provinces or colonies, suddenly married to a mid-ranking officer or minor nobility. Wouldn’t you know it, a few months later she gives birth to a beautiful baby, who often just happens to manifest significant firebending talent at an early age.” She looked her distinctly embarrassed-looking sibling right in the eye, then smirked. “Quite a coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”</p><p>“How do you know about all this?” he managed after a short pause.</p><p>“It’s not that hard to spot from up close, if you pay attention to what’s going on around you.” Azula took another swallow. “Dad was the one who encouraged me to keep an eye on changes in the palace staff in the first place. I think he wanted me to know.”</p><p>Zuko’s mouth was slightly open. “W-Why?”</p><p>“Do I have to spell everything out for you?”</p><p>“Why would Dad…” his voice still sounded disbelieving. “Why would he…”</p><p>“I’ll take that as a yes,” Azula sighed again. “Because with you gone, he felt there was a risk of me slipping into complacency about my new place in the line of succession, just like his brother did. By letting me realize that he had other options, it meant I’d stay more motivated to prove myself a worthy heir.”</p><p>“That’s…” there was an expression on his face that she didn’t quite recognize, and his voice was low and oddly soft. “Azula, that’s horrible.”</p><p>“That’s the reality of rulership,” she said indifferently. “Uncle invested all his eggs in one basket and look at where it got him.”</p><p>Zuko lapsed into sullen silence for a time at the mention of their worthless old relative, doubtlessly remembering just where he was and who had put him there.</p><p>“Anyway,” Azula continued after some time had passed, “a would-be Fire Lord should know about all the potential competition. Even if I support your claim to the throne one day, one of our father’s bastards might become a banner for some theoretical opposition to rally around.”</p><p>“What are you saying?”</p><p>“That if you expect to inherit the throne in the future, you might want to be aware of the situation as it stands. Who knows when it might become necessary to, shall we say, prune the family tree?”</p><p>Zuko blanched.</p><p>Azula calmly popped another cherry into her mouth.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sibling "bonding", yay!</p><p>Also, I would appreciate reader feedback. This whole fic is new territory for me, and I'd like to hear how I'm doing.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Garden</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was getting later in the afternoon when Zuko and Azula made it out to one of the reserved villas that surrounded the palace. While the palace itself was surrounded entirely by bare, rocky, defensible terrain within its walls, these places were designed solely with aesthetics and comfort in mind. Many hosted ponds, artificial springs, or elaborate courtyards for formal events. The particular villa that her brother had chosen boasted an open courtyard larger than most of the capital’s houses, with a veritable jungle of a garden inside.</p><p>The siblings walked in silence for a time beneath a sea of red and green leaves, over the decorative bridge crossing the artificial stream, past topiaries and statues depicting mythical creatures associated with prosperity and high status, and past occasional bursts of late-blooming flowers. Preferably red ones, of course, but there were some imported or crossbred varieties present as well.</p><p>Being here was almost nostalgic for Azula – it reminded her of her days in similar gardens as a little girl, pulling the wings off butterflies behind her mother’s back. Pleasant memories aside, it didn’t seem to be doing much for her brother. Zuko walked slowly, hands behind his back, occasionally pausing to sniff a bloom or two, but didn’t say much of anything. He just kept going, a somber expression seemingly glued straight to his face. The princess wouldn’t have minded so much if she weren’t obliged to follow him.</p><p>“Trying to distract yourself?” she eventually asked. “Or just relive days gone by?”</p><p>“It’s not your concern.”</p><p>“Isn’t it?” Azula eyed him. “What’s got you so down?”</p><p>“Nothing,” he didn’t meet her gaze.</p><p>“Now who’s the liar?” she chuckled. “You wear your emotions on your sleeves, Zuzu. You always have.”</p><p>Her brother turned away and continued walking through the garden, hands behind his back.</p><p>“Is it Dad, I wonder?” she was never far behind him. “Is it the array of relatives you never knew you had? Or maybe one relative in particular?”</p><p>He ignored her as best he could.</p><p>“Or perhaps… you’re still not sure about your place, are you?” She smirked to see her brother’s pace quicken. “It’s no use running from the truth, Zuko,” she called after him. “It always catches up in the end.”</p><p>“Why would I tell you anything?”</p><p>“In point of fact, you already did back on Ember Island. And secondly, for reasons we’ve already discussed, I have a strong incentive to care about your well-being right now.” Azula idly examined her nails. “If you drive yourself to a mental breakdown and do something stupid, I’m stuck suffering the consequences right alongside you.” She grimaced. “So why don’t you lay your cares on me, and we’ll see what I can do to help.”</p><p>“Anything I said to you, you’d just find a way to use it against me.” Zuko slumped back against a tree, arms crossed. “You must think I’m an idiot.”</p><p>“To the first, normally yes. Today, no. Second point, yes.” The princess continued to pace the gardens. “Consider this: I have nothing better to do than follow you around and watch you brood and mope all day. Do you think even I enjoy your nonstop sulking?” she scoffed. “It’s depressing, really.”</p><p>“You’re getting nothing out of me.”</p><p>“Fine, sit there and be miserable until you die if that’s what you want, but do me a favor and let me go so I don’t have to watch.”</p><p>“I’ve got enough on my mind without you plotting against me too.”</p><p>“What did I ever do to make you so distrustful of me?”</p><p>“In our first meeting in three years, you lied to me that Dad wanted me home and then tried to kill me with lightning when you’d already won the fight.”</p><p>“I had my orders. I am a loyal daughter after all.”</p><p>“Then you faked a surrender so you could shoot Uncle in the chest with a fire blast and escape.”</p><p>“It’s called self-preservation. I’m sure you’d have done the noble thing and let yourself be led away in chains to some Earth Kingdom dungeon to be used as a bargaining chip?” Azula shrugged. “Besides, if it makes you feel any better it was nothing personal. Just tactical sense. I would have shared the credit for Ba Sing Se’s fall with Uncle too if he had been willing to fight with us.”</p><p>“When I trusted you before, you used me as a human shield to make sure all the blame would fall on me if… if anything went wrong.”</p><p>Azula was at least glad he’d had the sense to not say it out loud, even if they were seemingly alone.</p><p>“So, the better question is,” Zuko went on, a scowl on his face as he looked up at her, “why would I <em>ever</em> trust you at all?!”</p><p>“If I’m so untrustworthy, why did you accept my offer in the underground city?”</p><p>“I…” he hesitated.  </p><p>She smiled knowingly. “You <em>wanted</em> to believe me, didn’t you?”</p><p>“I did,” Zuko admitted.</p><p>“And you were wise to do so,” Azula continued walking with a small grin tugging the corner of her mouth. “Look at all that’s gotten you. Your home, your honor, your father’s love, your girlfriend, your rightful place as Crown Prince. All thanks to one choice to trust me. So why not do it again?”</p><p>“Because you’re you.”</p><p>“Guilty as charged,” she said, continuing to pace up and down the rows of plants. “But tell me, seeing that I’m supposed to be completely self-centered and my spiritual self is quite literally inside you, wouldn’t it logically follow that you can trust me absolutely to act in your best interests?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Holding grudges against your own family is no way to live,” Azula smiled almost proudly at him. “But it doesn’t really matter. I figured out what’s eating away at you some time ago.”</p><p>“Hmph.”</p><p>“You told me yourself after all. You don’t feel like you know the difference between right and wrong anymore. That means you’re not certain about whether what you did in Ba Sing Se was right or not, and you feel lost without anyone you trust to guide you.”</p><p>“I’m that easy to read, huh?” her brother said glumly.</p><p>“More like you shout it to the heavens,” Azula put a hand on her hip. “You talk too much, Zuzu.”</p><p>“So, if you already know what the problem is, what’s your great advice on how to stop it?”</p><p>“Simple. Just accept the reality of our destiny, of our nation’s destiny, and stop fretting about the past. Think of what you did there as saving lives, if it makes you feel better about yourself. Sozin’s Comet is on its way. Ba Sing Se would have perished in the fire of a hundred suns if we hadn’t toppled it in a bloodless coup. So, in a way, you preserved the lives of everyone in that city.” She spun around a tree to appear behind her brother. “A magnanimous act by a beneficent conqueror, just as Fire Lord Sozin would have wanted.”</p><p>“I don’t know,” he shook his head. “Was conquering them even the right thing to do?”</p><p>“Having doubts about the war, are we?” Azula walked slowly around a display of morning glory flowers in a delightful spread of red, pink, and white, pausing before a slightly stunted bloom less vivid than the others. “You’re a little late for that, I’m afraid, the war’s already over. You helped me to end it. We won; the rest is just cleanup.”</p><p>Zuko looked down. “The war was supposed to be about spreading the glory of the Fire Nation. Enlightening the other nations and sharing our prosperity with them. But I’ve been through the Earth Kingdom. They don’t see our glory. They <em>hate</em> us.”</p><p>“Well, when you’re Fire Lord, you’ll have a chance to decide how best to convince them that they’re wrong,” the princess plucked the offending flower from its plant at the stem. “Once their wills have been properly broken, I’m sure they’ll be quite grateful for the kindheartedness of their glorious overlord.”</p><p>“Maybe…”</p><p>“If you don’t like our current policies then just be patient,” she walked over to sit down against a tree near to his. “As long as you don’t do anything too stupid, you’ll have your chance to change them and put your own spin on our unified world order. And I’ll be there to help you impose your will in case you get too softhearted for your own good again.”</p><p>Her brother paused, that somber look on his face unchanged.</p><p>“The 41<sup>st</sup> Division,” Zuko continued after a little bit. “What happened to them?”</p><p>“The who?” Azula frowned.</p><p>“The soldiers I got <em>this</em> for,” he pointed to the left half of his face.</p><p>“Oh, them,” the princess had to think back. She’d only been eleven years old at the time and even a prodigy only had so much attention to go around. “When General Bujing’s plan was put into motion, the 41<sup>st</sup> Division suffered such a high rate of attrition that its combat capabilities were deemed critically impaired and the entire unit was disbanded. The surviving soldiers were parceled out piecemeal to other units.”</p><p>“…Did we win?”</p><p>“No. The enemy saw the attempted encirclement coming a ways off and launched a counter-flank to hold off our rear units until they’d utterly routed the 41<sup>st</sup>, then disengaged along preplanned routes.” Azula shrugged. “A minor loss in the grand scheme of things, only a green division getting mauled. The rest escaped with acceptable casualties.”</p><p>The prince stared up at her with an open mouth. “Then what was it all for?!” he demanded. “Why did those men have to die?! Why did-” He cut himself off, but she could practically see the question going through his head.</p><p><em>“Why did Father banish you for it? Why didn’t he recall you when the plan failed anyway?”</em> Azula mentally finished for him. <em>“Because you were weak, Zuko. Because he had a better child waiting in the wings. He still does.”</em></p><p>Aloud, she replied, “They died for the glory of the Fire Nation and the advancement of our conquest of the Earth Kingdom. They died for their Fire Lord, and for the Royal House. They died for <em>us</em>, Zuko. As they ought to have. They fulfilled their purpose.”</p><p>“For us?” Zuko repeated. “Then what are we for?”</p><p>“That’s easy. We were meant for war, for victory, and for mastery,” she set the flower in her hand ablaze, watching the imperfect thing shrivel into ashes. “To fight, to win, to conquer, and to dominate.”</p><p>“Life… shouldn’t be for the sake of conquest,” he said quietly. “Conquest should be for the sake of life.”</p><p>“Did you pick that up from Uncle or something?” she crushed what was left of the ashes to powder, then scattered it across the soil. “Or is that your inner Sozin speaking?”</p><p>He kept his silence.</p><p>“Oh Zuzu,” Azula shook her head. “When will you realize that life <em>is</em> conquest? To live is declare war on all that would deny you life. Even the lowliest peasant, the gentlest pacifist monk, exists by asserting himself and dominating his inferiors. The least of men dominates hemp, cotton, and silk to clothe himself, crops to fill his stomach, wood and stone to cover his head. When lesser beings resist, they must be broken. That’s the natural order, the way things should be.”</p><p>She stood up and clenched her fist. “And for us, for those divinely selected for greatness, domination isn’t simply over nature but over ourselves, over lesser men, over nations, and finally over the earth. People like you and I? We <em>exist</em> to rule, to shape the entire world according to our will. And if the world doesn’t like it, we just have to teach it its place. That’s how you get perfection. That’s how you get lightning.” Azula couldn’t hold back a proud smile. “By dominating yourself, as we’re destined to dominate everything else.”</p><p>“Is that you talking?” her brother asked. “Or Dad?”</p><p>“Why can’t it be both?”</p><p>“And what happens then? Once you’ve dominated everything there is to dominate?”</p><p>“Then?” Azula put her hand on Zuko’s shoulder. “Then you’ll be happy. With everything conformed to your will, there will be no more conflicts, no more questions, no more doubt. Absolute power and absolute perfection will be yours. Everything will be as it should.”</p><p>“I guess…” he trailed off, not really looking at her.</p><p>Really, he was almost too easy to read. She wondered if she’d wasted her time putting a stalker on him.</p><p>“Now come on,” she offered him her hand. “It isn’t befitting a prince to just sit out here and be gloomy all day. Let’s find something a little more invigorating for you.”</p><p>He hesitated, then gripped her hand in his.</p><p>Poor, guileless little Zuzu. When she was Fire Lord, she would have to keep her dumdum of a brother close by to make sure that he didn’t embarrass her by dying of his own stupidity. Maybe make him head of the Imperial Firebenders? That seemed suitable to his meager talents and apolitical enough not to attract an excessive number of knives to his back.</p>
<hr/><p>The Imperial Firebenders, Azula reflected sourly, could do with a new head.</p><p>The princess had known that there were deficiencies with them for some time, of course. A full thirty of them failing to defeat Iroh and Zuko during their first encounter had been bad enough, though most of that could be chalked up to the skill of Uncle. But even Zuko as he had been then had powered through the simultaneous attacks of two of them at once and defeated both in a single blow. He had hardly proved much of a challenge for <em>her</em> that day.</p><p>Today was, if anything, even worse. There were fifteen of the supposedly elite Royal Procession in the palace’s sparring arena, and only two teenagers to oppose them. That individually even their elite guards would be less powerful than the children of the Fire Lord was only to be expected – no prestigious bloodline could keep an inadequate bender from falling to an Agni Kai – but their tactics were beyond appalling. The masked men seemed to be taking the exercise as a series of consecutive honor duels, fighting one after another or at most in pairs. Azula and her brother ought to have been surrounded in the opening seconds, ought to be fighting back to back as constant, unpredictable blasts of fire and hand-to-hand strikes came in at unexpected angles. These men should have been a ruthless wolfpack, the princess thought as she laid out another guard twice her age, not koala sheep lining up to be slaughtered.</p><p>She would need to have <em>words</em> with Commander Akio.</p><p>“Faster!” she snarled at her faceless underlings. “Come in hard and destroy our focus!”</p><p>One of the guards lunged forward, fist curled as he aimed a jet of fire at Zuko’s head. Her sibling ducked beneath the attack, spinning around into a low, fiery kick that swept the man’s legs out from under him. Azula scowled as the man went sprawling.</p><p>“Do you think you’re queuing up at a cafeteria?! The battlefield doesn’t play fair!” Azula launched a sudden, two-fingered fire bolt at one of the men who had been hanging back, catching him straight in the armored chest. She smirked as he hit the smooth stone floor. “Is this how you’re going to handle an assassin in the night?”</p><p>The men, those that could still stand at any rate, stood together and punched the air in unison, unleashing eight separate streams of fire at the siblings. Azula had just enough time to roll her eyes before summoning a sphere of blue fire large enough to encompass the both of them. Bright red and orange clashed with brilliant blue, creating a blinding white glare.</p><p>“I’ll take the four on the left, the four on the right are yours,” she said to Zuko.</p><p>He grunted in a vaguely affirmative manner.</p><p><em>“Good enough,”</em> Azula thought, then pushed.</p><p>The clash of nine flames exploded in a spectacular thunderclap, flinging the overhead braziers around dangerously and rattling the heavy doors. Thick black smoke billowed throughout the chamber, choking out much of the flickering light. The princess rushed into it without hesitation. She didn’t need her eyes to make out the clumsy idiots coughing and sputtering amidst the mess.</p><p>Azula let the first guard know she was coming with a flash of blue flame across one hand. The man lashed out immediately with a sweeping low kick – good reflexes on this one at least. She leapt over the burning arc of energy easily enough and could have put him down with an overhead strike right there, but what fun would that have been? She landed behind him, just time for a second Imperial Firebender to strike suddenly for her back with a flaming whip. She dropped into a sudden split and watched with amusement as the startled first man had to hurriedly block the second’s attack.</p><p>The third and fourth members of the guard came at her from either flank, simultaneous punches unleashing wide cones of flame centered on her. Azula sprang to her feet in a single nimble move before darting back to the first man, leaving the attacks to collide just at her heels. The armored guard summoned a pair of blazing daggers and rushed to meet her, swinging hard with a double overhand power blow. She sidestepped, then kicked him in the unprotected back of the knee while he was overextended. He staggered and fell to all fours.</p><p>Meanwhile, the other three appeared to have acquired a lick of sense and simply rushed her. If they couldn’t match her firebending, maybe they could exploit the strength differential between grown men and a fourteen-year-old girl in close quarters? It wasn’t going to work, but at least they could be taught something.</p><p>Azula gave ground as the three came on, dodging blazing hands and the occasional kick, refusing to allow herself to be surrounded. The men were, if nothing else, tenacious, advancing relentlessly under a barrage of distressingly rote punches, kicks, and chops. She knew these standard forms like the back of her hand and had since childhood. Spotting just the moments where a quick jab or light touch would redirect the strikes with minimal energy wasted was almost insultingly easy. Even Zuzu’s berserk assault near the resort village had had slightly more creativity than this.</p><p>Just to make things slightly more interesting, the princess allowed herself to be herded backwards until she bumped into one of the ornate stylized pillars littering the sparring room. The man directly in front of her drove his burning fist straight for her head, and she merely had to crouch a few inches. Smoking pebbles rained down on her head. Azula whirled and kicked the man in the throat before he could recover.</p><p>The remaining two came at her from either side, one kicking low for her ankles and other launching a bog-standard ball of fire from a clenched fist. She parried the kick with one of her own and simply ducked underneath the blast, allowing it to pass overhead and catch her attacker’s comrade in the chest. The last man standing all but threw himself at her, desperate to grapple and pin down this impossibly fast teenage girl. Azula opted to meet him head on, grabbing his wrist as he grabbed for her. She twisted it, pulling him to the side and off balance. Then she kneed him right between the legs, smirking as he collapsed with a whimper.</p><p>Azula glanced back the way she had come to see the man whose knee she had kicked out back on his feet, keeping a wary distance. As soon as he saw her look at him, he dropped into a depressingly standard combat stance. She put one hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. The guard hesitated – and was immediately struck from behind by a fist-sized bolt of red and orange flame.</p><p>“Zuko,” Azula chided with just a hint of pique. “I wasn’t done playing with that one yet.”</p><p>“But I was,” her brother replied, glancing at the twitching, smoking form of the Imperial Firebender.</p><p>“Oh very well,” she shook her head, taking a few steps towards her brother. “Feeling any better now that you’ve had some targets for your ire?”</p><p>“A little bit,” he admitted.</p><p>“You see?” Azula spread her hands out invitingly as she stepped over the sprawled out forms of the siblings’ opposition. “I can cure what ails you. Stick with me, and we’ll get you chipper as Ty Lee in no time.”</p><p>“That’s not going to happen,” Zuko shook his head, though not quite enough to conceal the slight traces of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Ever.”</p><p>“I know you can feel the same thrill I do, Zuzu,” Azula paced around him with a smile. “The sun’s blood flows in your veins as well as mine. We were meant for greatness. Seeing it proven, seeing your enemies lying broken and scattered at your feet…” even without a heart to race or blood to surge through her, the princess could feel her excitement rising, “there’s nothing quite like it in all the world.” She strode forward to put her hand on her brother’s shoulder, stepping carelessly on a guard’s hand as she did so. “Get used to it, because-”</p><p>There was sudden creaking groan from behind her. Azula spun around as the heavy doors were slowly opened from the outside, her teeth already beginning to clench. She’d given explicit orders that this was to be a <em>private</em> training session, who would dare to…</p><p>Azula’s eyes widened as she saw, and then she immediately collapsed to her knees. Behind her, she could sense her brother doing likewise. Prince and princess alike abased themselves as Fire Lord Ozai stepped softly into the sparring hall.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. The Spar</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Princess Azula. Prince Zuko,” Fire Lord Ozai’s voice was deep and smooth, polite-sounding but revealing nothing. “Rise.”</p>
<p>Both siblings climbed easily back to their feet while their father slowly walked closer. Dressed in full robes and regalia, hands folded tightly behind his back, he made for an imposing sight even without his customary fiery throne. His face, as it often was, was impassive and unreadable. His golden eyes swept over the room, sizing up everything at a glance. Zuko would admit that that cold gaze made him feel small again.</p>
<p>“I trust that I’m not interrupting,” he continued as he stepped out onto the field proper.</p>
<p>“Not at all,” Azula, ahead of him, shook her head. “We were just finishing up a light spar with the Imperial Firebenders.”</p>
<p>“And revealing their inadequacies, I see,” there was a slight frown on Ozai’s face as he looked down at the limp forms of the palace guard. “Their officers will need to be duly reprimanded.”</p>
<p>Even though he barely knew the man save by reputation, Zuko felt a sudden surge of pity for Commander Akio.</p>
<p>“How can we serve?” the prince asked.</p>
<p>“It happened that my duties afforded me a moment’s respite,” his father said, despite all three knowing full well that no one would ever dare question the Fire Lord’s schedule. “When I heard that my children were training, it seemed an opportune moment to go and see your progress with my own eyes.”</p>
<p>“We’d be honored to show you, of course,” Azula said. “We just need to call in some more soldiers of the Royal Procession and-”</p>
<p>“I think not,” Ozai shook his head. “It wouldn’t do to deplete the ranks of the palace guard too greatly.”</p>
<p>“Of course not, Father,” the princess instantly agreed.</p>
<p>“Sparring against the manifestly unworthy is no way to draw out true potential. For that, a more challenging foe is necessary.” The Fire Lord eyed them both. “I think you two ought to duel each other.”</p>
<p>Zuko could see his sister stiffen just a fraction.</p>
<p>“Azula, you’ve trained here for many years and learned much. Now you have returned from war, I want to see the results. Show me what the battlefield has taught you. Zuko,” the prince could feel sweat trickling down the back of his neck while he did his best to meet his father’s gaze stoically. “I have not seen you fight in three years. The weight of your travels hangs heavy about you. Show me the flames that brought down the Avatar.”</p>
<p>“I… yes, Father,” Azula bowed.</p>
<p>Zuko pressed his hand and fist together in the customary position and did likewise.</p>
<p>Setting up the stage was not difficult, really. The hardest part was waiting for the Imperial Firebenders to haul off the last of their comrades to the infirmary. The sparring chamber itself was easily large enough for a proper duel, all ornate – and fireproof – stonework with four blazing brass braziers hanging overhead. Zuko and Azula stood on opposite ends of the central arena, facing one another. Ozai stood on the sidelines, between two of the pillars, face cast in shadow.</p>
<p>“This is to be a contest to first on the ground <em>only</em>,” the Fire Lord warned, looking at Azula. “I don’t want any permanent damage inflicted so close to the invasion. Beyond that, there are no rules.” His face remained impassive. “Begin.”</p>
<p>Azula wasted no time. The moment the word had fallen from Ozai’s lips, she dropped into a combat stance and thrust two fingers in his direction. A bolt of blue fire sped right for the armor over Zuko’s heart. He crossed his arms, then tore them apart at the last second to disperse the blast. He caught the attack perfectly and scattered the flames like they were nothing. And that was just it, they felt like nothing. No heat, no force of impact, just as though he’d been waving his arms in the air for no particular reason.</p>
<p>The princess was in no hurry to close the distance with her brother. Taking several steps back, Azula’s hands jabbed out one after another in rapid succession, producing a veritable swarm of tiny, fiery darts. Zuko’s right hand lit up with his own yellow-orange flame, and he swept it before him in an arc. The crosscut of orange was peppered with blue, to no effect at all. Each and every one of her attacks dissolved into smoke upon contact with his barrier. He still felt nothing.</p>
<p>The third time Azula did take several steps forward, bringing both of her fists together for a strike that sacrificed her usual precision for sheer power. A column of fire as thick as his waist, blazing such a bright blue it was almost white, rocketed across the sparring chamber directly for his midsection. His hands were alight as he brought his fingertips together, planting himself firmly in a defensive stance. The inferno flowed effortlessly to the side of either arm as he stood there, watching the stone floor at his feet visibly blacken from the heat he didn’t feel.</p>
<p>The blinding attack continued for several seconds before petering out, leaving his sister looking almost awkward in her uncharacteristically blunt stance. For just an instant their two pairs of golden eyes met, and he caught a glimpse of an emotion Zuko couldn’t say he’d ever seen in his perfect sister before. Fear. For all the good her exalted firebending was doing she might as well have been throwing silk ribbons at him, and both of them knew it.</p>
<p>That moment passed, and then Zuko was the one on the offensive. His fists flew one after the other, launching blazing fireball after fireball at Azula. The princess didn’t even try to block them, instead leaping to the side with catlike grace, rolling effortlessly to her feet and smoothly transitioning to another two-fingered shot. The prince dodged, more for the sake of appearances than anything else.</p>
<p>Now that he was completely sure that there was nothing to fear, Zuko charged Azula head-on, twin fire whips taking shape around both of his hands. He leapt into the air, swinging his arms around to bring the lashes crashing down onto her from either side. She backflipped nimbly, narrowly avoiding the blows as they gouged into the stone floor instead. He followed up quickly, whipping both in a sideswipe at ankle and chest levels. Azula gave more ground, but she was already near her own edge of the arena and couldn’t back up much further. Zuko spun around, kicking out with one leg to send another fireball her way. She rolled to the side again and the blast struck wall with a dazzling explosion, rattling the overhanging braziers and sending smoking pebbles scattering all the way to his feet.</p>
<p>Firebending was powered by anger and intense emotion, every boy and girl in the Fire Nation learned that. And, to be entirely honest, it wasn’t hard at all to get angry at Azula. Memories of the sadistic brat who had mocked Lu Ten’s death, gleefully told him that he was to be murdered by his own father, smiled as half his face was burnt off intermingled with those of her standing above him on her ship, lightning crackling to end his life. Years’ worth of pent-up resentment was finally being given an outlet, and Zuko couldn’t quite deny that a darker part of him was enjoying the moment.</p>
<p>His inner blaze empowered by his rage, Zuko bellowed a primal war cry and came at his sister like a whirling dervish of destruction. The prince’s flaming whips struck out one after the other with the speed of serpents, never slowing, never letting up. Azula wasn’t so much dodging now as simply running – running from <em>him</em> – staying just ahead of the blows carving black scars into the masonry.</p>
<p>That the princess was good at it, no honest observer could doubt. She was impossibly agile and flexible, flipping, twisting, leaping, and using what cover the pillars could offer her to the utmost. Blue jets of fire supplemented her natural grace, boosting her to new heights or enabling abrupt changes to her direction. But he knew – they both knew – that agility without the ability to strike back or to flee the scene could only delay the inevitable.</p>
<p>Zuko knew his sister well enough to understand that her pride would never permit her to go down without fighting to the utmost. Azula took every opportunity to take a shot at him, whether it be a tiny dart from two fingers or a sweeping low kick that sent an azure arc of flames at his ankles. But the cold reality was that it just didn’t matter. Raw anger kept both of his whips blazing such a bright orange that they were almost red, and they scattered her prized blue fire like it wasn’t even there.</p>
<p>He kept after her. Where Azula ran, Zuko pursued. He pounded at her with lashes that only seemed to grow longer and more powerful as time went on, threw kicks into his sequences to launch ball after ball of orange flame after her. It dawned on him at one point that she might be desperately hoping to exhaust him and thereby win by default, but he ignored it. She wouldn’t get the chance.</p>
<p>The sparring chamber was only so big and offered only ornamental pillars for cover. Even many of those were denied to his sister, for to disrespect the Fire Lord by bringing the combat to his vicinity was unthinkable. The prince’s dual whips were half the length of the field by that point, further decreasing the princess’ options.</p>
<p>The end came suddenly, almost brutally. Azula dove for cover behind a scorched pillar as the blazing lashes came at her from either side, momentarily putting the siblings outside the other’s field of view. Zuko abruptly severed their connection to his hands, letting the whips carry on by sheer inertia for a heartbeat or two, and thrust both of his fists out in a single overwhelming blow. What emerged was less a simple fireball and more of a small comet, soaring across the short distance like a raging sign in the heavens.</p>
<p>The pillar exploded.</p>
<p>Jagged chunks of stone were sent spiraling through the sparring room in all directions, raining down like a meteor shower. The braziers dangling overhead spun wildly, only just holding to their chains, scattering burning coals across the much-abused stone floor. Azula struck the nearby wall like a projectile in her own right, impacting back first before tumbling to the ground in a heap. Smoke wafted from her armor and clothing.</p>
<p>The prince stood there, panting and sweating in the badly flickering light, only now truly aware of just how much energy he had been putting out for the last few minutes. His hands too were smoking. Acting on instincts ingrained in him from his youth, he glanced behind him.</p>
<p>Zuko could count on one hand the number of times in his life that he had seen his father look genuinely surprised by anything. Even as a prince he’d been obsessed with his image, firmly of the conviction that appearing nonplussed by whatever happened gave him the air of power. As Fire Lord, the wall of flames before his throne had only strengthened that image. But right that moment, Ozai’s eyes were wide, his mouth just slightly open. It didn’t last, of course. The Fire Lord caught his son’s eye on him and quickly composed himself.</p>
<p>His gaze returned momentarily to his sister, still flat on the ground. For some inexplicable reason, he felt his chest tighten.</p>
<p>“Well done, Prince Zuko,” Ozai said from behind him. When Zuko turned, he saw that his father was wearing a slight smile. “Azula told me how impressed she was with your power and ferocity. I see that she was right to be.”</p>
<p>He was back home in the palace. His sister, the one who’d tormented him almost since she was old enough to talk, was lying sprawled out on the ground. His father was <em>praising him</em>, complimenting his victory over her. Zuko thought he ought to feel something in that moment, some joy or pride or satisfaction to mark the occasion. But he… didn’t.</p>
<p>Why?</p>
<p>Behind him, Azula was already clambering back to her feet. The black armor covering her chest was still smoking slightly and there was an unpleasant grimace on her face, but beyond that his sister appeared to be more or less unhurt. But the glare that she was giving him spoke to something far deeper than just a little embarrassment.</p>
<p>“Zuko. Azula.” The Fire Lord had already turned his back on them, heading for the exit. “Come. Walk with me.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>As she strode the hallways with her father and brother, Azula was seething. To look at her, her face was the picture of expressionless calm, that carefully cultivated image of control and poise she had worked so hard to perfect. Inside her own mind, unfamiliar and unpleasant emotions were bubbling painfully to the surface.</p>
<p>It wasn’t fair, she wanted to scream out to her father. Zuko had not defeated her, he had only cheated! He was weaker than her, he was slower than her, he had only won because her condition made it impossible for her to strike him at all. No one could prevail when the very laws of the universe bent to sabotage them. Her brother didn’t deserve to be at Ozai’s right hand while she was stuck on the left. She ought to be there!</p>
<p>The princess’ simmering and peculiar jealousy was restrained only by her sense of pragmatism. To cry out to Ozai now, to reveal the truth of her situation, would rightly only earn her far greater disdain. To admit she was wearing chains, that she was bound to serve her brother and had not yet connived a way out was shameful beyond belief. Father detested weakness above all else. Weakness was punished. Strength, cunning, ruthlessness, those were the qualities he loved. He loved her the most because she possessed all three in abundance. So she would not lower herself further in his eyes by complaining or asking for help. She would find her own way out, would humble Zuko, and this whole embarrassment would be forgotten.</p>
<p>“The two of you have grown magnificently,” Ozai said as the three walked the silent halls of the palace, servants scattering at the sound of their footsteps.</p>
<p>Azula found to her dismay that she wasn’t swelling quite like she normally would at her father’s praise.</p>
<p>“Slaying the Avatar and accomplishing in days what my worthless brother could not in years before even reaching twenty years of age,” her father sounded pleased, though walking a few respectful paces behind him meant that it was impossible to see his face. “You will make fine future rulers for the Fire Nation.”</p>
<p>Their father led the two siblings to a wide balcony on the palace’s central tower. Almost the whole of the caldera city was visible from here, fine and shining in the slowly setting sun. Ozai looked out over the city that was his, his back to his children. Zuko and Azula stood and waited, neither daring to interrupt their father’s contemplation.</p>
<p>“With the end of the war comes the need for new forms of education,” the Fire Lord continued after a spell. “The time has come for the two of you to gain direct experience in ruling over the masses. The Fire Nation has many new territories to integrate, and I have decided that the two of you will take part in that.”</p>
<p>Normally the prospect of land of her own to rule would have excited Azula, a worthy prize for her hard work and loyalty, as well as a suitable opportunity to display her skill. But now? Now that she was bound to Zuko? All she could feel was anxiety.</p>
<p>“Once the eclipse invasion has passed and the last feeble hope of our enemies has been crushed, I’m appointing both of you to governorships in the former Earth Kingdom. There you will be able to learn just what it means to rule, in a way no tutor or scroll could ever teach you. Azula, you will oversee the city of New Ozai. For Zuko…” Ozai paused in that manner he liked to do when he wanted you to sweat. “Ba Sing Se.”</p>
<p>Bile leapt into Azula’s throat in an instant. She bit her own tongue to prevent herself from crying out in sheer outrage. She was to be stuck in a half-empty mountain <em>still</em> recovering from the idiot governor’s decision to release almost the entire civilian population? Meanwhile Zuko would sit on the throne of the Earth Kingdom – the throne <em>she</em> had conquered – and rule over the largest city in the world?! It was beyond unjust, beyond unfair, she deserved the pride of place while her brother squatted in a deserted ghost town.</p>
<p>For the first time since he had begun walking with them, Ozai turned his head a fraction towards his children. Azula caught the look in one of his golden eyes. Her hands clenched, and all too quickly she understood.</p>
<p>Ba Sing Se <em>had</em> been meant for her. She was the superior child, the prodigy, the genius manipulator who took after her father in all the best ways. But then she had lost, had fallen in battle before the very eyes of her Fire Lord. And fallen to the very son he had so often spurned in favor of her. She had shown weakness, and weakness was punished.</p>
<p>Azula couldn’t bring herself to pay attention as Zuko said some trite words of thanks, made some vows to govern with the diligence and dignity worthy of the Fire Lord’s son. Failure. This was the taste and reward of failure. She was being set aside in favor of the brother <em>she </em>had redeemed. It was her brilliant plan that saw him safely home, her lie that won him their father’s respect. And now, for one small mistake she could not possibly have apprehended the repercussions of, her status in Ozai’s eyes had fallen to beneath Zuko’s.</p>
<p>It couldn’t be. This had to be a mistake of some sort. She was better, smarter, stronger, more suited to rule. She couldn’t, even for a moment, be considered inferior to <em>Zuko</em>. Her head swam. Dots flickered at the edge of her vision.</p>
<p>But it was. Her cold, rational mind simply would not allow her to believe otherwise. Ozai thought his daughter had truly been defeated by his son, and he was rewarding her brother with a plum assignment. It was just as he had rewarded her for outdoing Zuko so many times before.</p>
<p>Azula’s eyes flickered over to Zuko, and a black, jealous rage the likes of which she hadn’t felt in years threaten to overtake her. She wanted nothing more at that moment than to throw herself at him, to burn his other eye out and reduce him to a screaming wreck in front of their father. Long-ignored memories of him having – <em>stealing</em> – all of Mother’s love throughout their childhood flared up in her mind’s eye, and she seethed in impotent fury. In just a few days he’d taken everything, from her freedom to her dignity, and now he was snatching Father’s love away before her very eyes.</p>
<p>She’d kill him! She’d gouge out his eyes and burn off his tongue and emasculate him if it was the last thing she did! He couldn’t do this, not to her! He couldn’t humiliate her and steal everything she had and leave her cold and alone and-</p>
<p>A single, unpalatable thought flashed suddenly through Azula’s mind, ripe with unexamined possibilities and distasteful conclusions.</p>
<p>Was <em>this</em> how Zuko had felt?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Cold Fire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Azula spent the night meditating again. In the absence of the ability to sleep, it wasn’t as though there was much else to do.</p>
<p>As the moon and stars slid slowly overhead, tranquility of mind proved to be elusive. But how could it be otherwise? She had lost, and lost publicly, even if it was anything but a fair fight. Then she had received an unmistakable sign of her waning in Father’s favor. To be imperfect was bad enough, to be so in front of the Fire Lord even worse, but to be potentially eclipsed by <em>Zuko</em>? That stung on a level even she was a bit surprised by.</p>
<p>It made sense, once she had disassociated herself enough from the raging undercurrent of jealousy to take a halfway detached perspective. She had <em>always</em> been her father’s favorite, quite literally as far back as she could remember. Who cared if Zuko had been preferred by her worthless, weak, nonbending mother? She was the beloved daughter of the more powerful, and therefore better, parent, because she simply deserved to be. She was talented, she was diligent, she was intelligent, and she was as ruthless as Father. That position had never once been truly threatened, not by the multiple bastard half-siblings she was aware of and certainly not by Zuko. It was why she had felt so safe giving away even the credit for the Avatar’s death – besides for her own safety of course. It didn’t matter if Ozai thought his son had one decent achievement under his belt, her brother didn’t have the bending talent or drive to be serious competition.</p>
<p>But now, what had been a constant in her life was threatening to crumble beneath her feet. She hadn’t lost a sparring match in years, and she had never lost one in such an overwhelming manner. As far as Father knew, his prized prodigy daughter had been systematically overpowered at every turn, utterly demolished by the brother she’d outshone since childhood. Somehow, impossibly, his runt of a firstborn son now appeared to have become more powerful than his sister, and by a fairly large margin. Azula badly regretted the compliments she’d given Zuzu during her homecoming report to Father.</p>
<p>The simple, blunt, and horrifying fact was, she was in danger of being <em>replaced</em>.</p>
<p>The mere word sent cold tremors running down the back of her neck. To be usurped in her beloved father’s affections, and not even by honest loss but by unbelievably ill luck, was unthinkable. Ozai’s approval and love were the bedrock on which she had built her entire life. She would not lose them. She <em>could</em> not.</p>
<p>Zuko. All of this was his fault. It was his fault for driving her to the beach where she had found the lantern in the first place. It was his fault for being so stubborn and refusing her deal. It was his fault for being such a useless, dithering, moping sad sack that she had had to bring him to a training match just to fire up his blood. And most of all it was his fault for not simply taking a dive during their match. Everyone knew that she was the superior firebender, what would it have harmed his reputation to just let an attack hit and fall over backwards? Instead, he had insisted on claiming false victory just to satiate his childish grudge. Even if he had felt similarly before, like that nagging thought had wondered, it was simply because he deserved to. He was weak, she was not, so he deserved whatever life threw at him and she did not. It was that simple.</p>
<p>He would choke on his “victory”, she vowed. Azula didn’t know exactly how or when, but her brother would pay for embarrassing her, and pay dearly.</p>
<hr/>
<p>It was not long after his new normal morning routine – wake up, hot bath, sumptuous breakfast by himself – that Zuko received word that his father wanted to see him. That was unusual enough by itself. Even since the prince’s return as a hero, the Fire Lord was a private man not given to displays of family affection. That it wasn’t to take place in the throne room was even more surprising. The last time he’d met with Ozai outside of the palace itself was back when they had lived as a family in a villa adjacent to the palace, back when Fire Lord Azulon was still alive. But Zuko had to admit that what surprised him most of all, when he arrived with the also-summoned Azula in tow, was finding the Fire Lord out of his regalia.</p>
<p>Father was very particular about his image. Back when he’d bothered to try educating his son in these things, he’d said that it was because the Fire Lord embodied the Fire Nation itself, and so had to be the mighty cornerstone on which the whole edifice of the nation stood. Everything from the robes he wore to the careful symmetry of his neatly groomed hair was designed to project an image of unflappable, unerring power and control. That was why seeing Ozai bereft of his crown, wearing a simple black tunic lined with gold, crimson pants, and no shoes was such a surprise.</p>
<p>“Zuko. Azula,” the Fire Lord said without opening his eyes when the two guards posted outside opened the two heavy villa doors. “Sit.”</p>
<p>Ozai himself was seated on a simple mat on a white stone floor, legs crossed and arms folded onto his lap in a meditative position. The wide, empty room around him was made of similar plain stone, unadorned save for a few banners and tapestries depicting various firebending stances. There were two similar red mats on the wooden floor a short distance behind him. Azula, apparently familiar with this sort of thing, walked over and assumed her place on their father’s right, closing her eyes in meditation of her own. Zuko had to shed some parts of his robe and high collar to fit in, and just opted to copy Azula’s pose anyway.</p>
<p>“I want you both to empty your minds of all distractions,” his father continued shortly after he sat down. “Focus entirely on the here and now. There is no past. There is no future. There is only yourself, and the sound of your own breath.”</p>
<p><em>“Easy for you to say,”</em> Zuko thought, breathing in and out in measured, deep motions meant to slow the heartrate and calm the mind.</p>
<p>“As you breathe, feel the energy flowing from your stomach, through your chest, and up through your limbs, empowering them with the essence of life. Breathe in and out and follow the pathways throughout your body.”</p>
<p>To feel much of anything with so much half-conscious guilt and buried anger gnawing at the back of his mind was a challenge, but the prince did his best. The sea of chi inside his gut was still there, a solid anchor in uncertain times, and as he continued to measure his breathing Zuko tried to follow it through himself. It went up and into his heart, then trickled out toward the tips of his fingers and toes, tingling slightly the more he focused on it, before suddenly rushing back to the pit of his stomach once it had reached the outermost extremity of him.</p>
<p>“Sit, breathe, and observe,” Ozai commanded. “Focus on the power flowing within. Do not think of anyone or anything else.”</p>
<p>Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Focus.</p>
<p>Zuko wasn’t sure how much time the three of them passed in that state, sitting quietly and listening to the sound of their own breath. The effect was almost hypnotic, especially as the siblings began tuning their own rhythm to match the heavier sound of their father’s lungs. In and out. Push and pull. Yin and yang. If he’d been thinking about it, he might have realized that this was the single most noncontentious occasion they’d had together as a family in years. But all he paid attention to was their synchronized breathing outside and the flow of chi inside. It was, of course, Father that broke the peaceful spell.</p>
<p>“Feel the changes in the flow of your power as it moves through you. Sense the charge as it changes. Positive and negative. Observe the points where one becomes the other. Where the two may be split.”</p>
<p>Splitting positive and negative energy? That sounded familiar for a moment, and then it clicked. Zuko’s breathing fell out of sync with his father and sister’s. Dad was going over the foundations of bending lightning. It didn’t seem real, it didn’t seem possible, but his father was actually going to try and teach him the cold-blooded fire. Just like Uncle had.</p>
<p>Uncle.</p>
<p>One word proved enough to dash whatever calm he might have managed into a thousand pieces.</p>
<p>“When the energy splits, yin and yang alike will struggle to reunite,” Ozai continued, seeming to ignore the sound of creaking wood overhead. “That is the opportunity. In the moment that the two crash together as one, you must bend them completely to your will, forcing them outwards to slay your enemies in a single almighty strike.”</p>
<p>Zuko felt the sudden kiss of sunlight on his skin, a blessing for any firebender. He risked a quick glance up and saw that the roof had somehow been parted and pulled open, leaving a cloudless morning sky clearly visible.</p>
<p>“Observe,” the Fire Lord said simply.</p>
<p>Zuko opened his eyes just in time. Fire Lord Ozai sprang from his meditative position with the speed of a man half his years, whipping around like a viper so his children could see his face. His arms rotated in a circle only once, and in the space of an eyeblink he was throwing blinding arcs of pure white lightning into the sky. The prince’s mouth dropped open just a little. He’d seen Azula do it, and Uncle too, but never so fast, never with so much power behind it.</p>
<p>The moment of awe passed, lingering sparks of electricity dissipating around Father as he resumed his full height, hands once more neatly tucked behind his back.</p>
<p>“The secret of lightning has been the province of the Royal House for generations. Your grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon, used it to slay many who were foolish enough to challenge him to Agni Kai. It is the only firebending technique against which there is no defense,” he continued in that same calm tone. “It is therefore only fitting that those who are to represent the Fire Nation to the world it has conquered should bear it.”</p>
<p>“As a sign of our supremacy,” Azula said from beside him.</p>
<p>“Indeed,” Ozai nodded at her once, before fixing Zuko with his hard, golden eyes. “Your sister mastered her birthright long ago. You have yet to prove yourself worthy of it.” He paused. “But perhaps the time has come at last. Azula?”</p>
<p>“At your command,” she bowed her head.</p>
<p>“Demonstrate the basics for your brother.”</p>
<p>There was a slight frown that crossed his sister’s face for an instant, before it vanished. The princess rose, calm and deliberate, and took a few paces back from Zuko. She took a deep breath, stretched her hands, and then began. He already knew the patterns, and he suspected the exaggerated slowness with which she performed them was just to mock him. But insult or no, a smaller electric storm emerged from her fingertips at the climax, tinted blue instead of her father’s pure white. She sent the energy skywards with a slight smirk.</p>
<p>“Now, show me the rudimentary sequence,” Father demanded. “Do not try to bend.”</p>
<p>Zuko got to his feet as Azula sat back down. Taking a few steps forward, he breathed deeply once himself, then simply did as he had already tried doing countless times before, back during his fugitive days in the Earth Kingdom. This was the easy part, and he went through the motions of lightning generation, looked at Father, and did it again. And again. And again. He knew better than to stop before being told.</p>
<p>“Adequate,” the Fire Lord said after what had to be the fiftieth time or so that he’d performed the sequence. Zuko’s arms were starting to hurt. “Now, focus on the energy inside yourself. Locate the critical points.”</p>
<p>Zuko closed his eyes, doing his best to comply and ignore the mix of guilt and indignant anger nestled at the back of his mind.</p>
<p>“Clear your mind.”</p>
<p>Easier said than done.</p>
<p>“Focus on your power building. Prepare yourself to split the energy. Fortify your mind to subdue it to your will. Ignore all else.”</p>
<p>The prince took another deep, calming breath.</p>
<p>“Do it.”</p>
<p>Zuko brought his sore arms around in a perfect replica of Azula’s sequence. He struck at the flow of energy in his body, severing the contact between positive and negative at their weakest link. He thrust his hand upwards, two fingers pointed straight into the air.</p>
<p>The world exploded in front of him.</p>
<p>The scarred prince was thrown backwards by the force of the energies colliding again, well beyond his ability to contain, much less direct. He hit the white stone floor roughly, and on his backside. He opted to lie there a moment, panting and smoking, before forcing himself to look up. Ozai was looking back down at him, face unmoved.</p>
<p>“Your mind is not collected enough to dominate the flow of energy,” he declared. “You are allowing errant thoughts to distract you. To control the cold-blooded fire, your focus must be <em>absolute</em>. Do you understand?”</p>
<p>“I do,” Zuko nodded, forcing himself to his feet.</p>
<p>“We will see,” Ozai sat back down on his mat, resuming his meditative pose. “Come and sit. Practice controlling your focus a while longer, and we shall try again.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Zuzu couldn’t do it.</p>
<p>Azula couldn’t help but smile a little at that surety, despite the pain that each failed attempt invariably caused her. Watching her brother try and fail, then try again and fall flat on his face before Father’s hard eyes was worth enduring for. He might not have expected his son to get it right on the very first try – even she hadn’t managed that – but Ozai could not have failed to notice that instead of sparks or a simple dud, his poor son’s failures almost invariably took the shape of an explosion. That meant that it wasn’t a lack of power or improper technique that was the issue, but a simple failure to tame his own mind.</p>
<p>The princess didn’t need to see Father’s face to imagine his thoughts, to see his newfound respect for his son’s power waning with every fumble. Perhaps, he might be thinking, Zuko’s victory over her the evening before had been nothing more than a simple fluke, a result of excessive unchecked emotion running wild. Such things could empower regular firebending, certainly, but they were worse than useless for the cold fire. And even more importantly, if he couldn’t control himself how could he hope to control a city the size of Ba Sing Se? At least, that was what she hoped Ozai was thinking.</p>
<p>After the recent string of awful fortune, today might just be her lucky day after all. Zuko might helpfully discredit himself enough with the Fire Lord for her to firmly reestablish herself in Father’s eyes here and now, without her having to even do anything. All she had to do was sit back and wait, and not show the sympathetic pain she felt every time he felt any.</p>
<p>The pattern was simple enough. Watch her dear sibling bumble around once or twice, get up, perform the sequence perfectly (not a hair out of place she was proud to say), and then sit back down. Meditate as a group for a while, then repeat. This was the way things ought to be. She as the talented prodigy getting it right every time, Zuko as the incompetent buffoon who couldn’t manage anything less than a spectacular failure even once. Delicious.</p>
<p>This sequence of events could have gone on for hours, until Ozai’s patience with his weakling son was finally exhausted. Father had never been the nurturing type and did not abide failure lightly. Prior displays of power and worth could mollify him, to a point, but he would not put up with a useless farce for long. It might have lasted that long too, if someone or something hadn’t apparently had it in for her.</p>
<p>It was when Azula was the one standing, gleefully winding her arms through the circular sequences and reveling in the sheer power contained in her fingertips, that it happened. There came a sudden groaning from the double doors of the chamber, freezing the princess in her tracks. She could see her father’s expression darken noticeably even before he rose and turned around, hands folded behind his back. The two masked guards were holding the door open, and between them was a rapidly kneeling young man in a captain’s uniform.</p>
<p>“What is the meaning of this?” Ozai said in a low, dangerous tone, ignoring the crack of Azula’s lightning being unleashed behind him. “I gave express orders that my children and I were to remain undisturbed during this time.”</p>
<p>“M-My apologies, Fire Lord,” the officer pressed his face into the stone floor. “But we received a black ribbon message.”</p>
<p>Azula and Zuko glanced at one another behind their father’s back. A black ribbon message was the highest priority imaginable, information to be conveyed to the Fire Lord without delay in all possible circumstances.</p>
<p>“I see,” Ozai said, tone unchanged as he walked deliberately over to the man, accepting the proffered scroll from his wavering hands without comment.</p>
<p>Azula felt a gnawing sense of dread at the back of her mind, one possibility above all standing out to her. Normally she wouldn’t have cared, might even have found the situation amusing, but if her possible lie was revealed right now, and Ozai chose to punish Zuko… Well, she didn’t fancy carrying a hideous scar across her own face or worse.</p>
<p>“There has been an earthbender uprising in the occupied Yu Shan province,” her father’s voice was even deeper than before, but Azula still couldn’t help but sigh mentally with relief. “General Enlai is dead, and our central garrison is under siege.”</p>
<p>“This insult cannot stand.” Ozai partially turned around, a deep scowl etched onto his face. “I must arrange for our reprisal without delay. Azula.”</p>
<p>“At your service, Father.”</p>
<p>“Continue running your brother through the sequences. I will return shortly.”</p>
<p>“As you will,” she bowed at the waist.</p>
<p>Without another word, the Fire Lord swept from the room, passing the nervous captain by entirely. Once a respectful amount of distance had opened up, the officer rose quickly to his feet, offered a bow to the prince and princess, and left in a hurry. The two guards pulled the training room’s doors shut again, leaving the siblings alone.</p>
<p>Well, that timing was unfortunate. The mud grubbers couldn’t have waited a day, or at least a few hours more, for their petty and doomed rebellion?</p>
<p>Azula glanced silently at her brother. He would never bend lightning like this, she knew that for a fact. And she was hardly going to help him upstage her again in any case. But while she was here and had some sort of leverage over him, perhaps there was another way to get some use out of this?</p>
<hr/>
<p>Zuko watched Azula’s movements with the eye of a messenger hawk, copying each slow, choreographed step with the utmost precision that he could muster. She made it almost painfully slow for him, keeping the pace mild even with little crackles of electricity dancing around her fingers. He followed her pattern with admirable devotion, his mind focused as hard as he could on the cold fire and nothing else. There was only one small distinction: at the climax of her steps she got an electric storm. At the climax of his, everything blew up in his face.</p>
<p>Wasn’t that just his life?</p>
<p>His latest effort saw the prince blasted several yards across the stone floor by the sheer concussive force of the explosion. He landed painfully on his backside and skidded a few more feet before coming to a halt. Zuko lay there for a moment, eyes screwed shut against the embarrassment as much as the pain. When he opened them, he was a little surprised to see a well-manicured hand reaching down not far from his face.</p>
<p>“There there, Zuzu,” his sister said in a silky voice, a faint smile tugging at her lips while she helped him up. “It’s alright. I’ll vouch for you with Dad.” She actually patted him on the back, an incongruous act on her part if he’d ever seen one. “We can’t expect you to master lightning in a single day. Why, it took me a whole week before I got my first proper, full-sized bolt off, and we both know who inherited the lion turtle’s share of the natural talent.”</p>
<p>“How old were you?”</p>
<p>“Twelve,” she said proudly.</p>
<p>Zuko looked away. “And did it blow up in your face this much?”</p>
<p>“The key is an untroubled mind,” she said, walking in a circle around him with one finger held up. “You’ll never achieve it unless you let go of these ridiculous doubts you’ve been harboring. Accept your place, Zuzu. Forget about everything else and concentrate on what you are now, and what you are to become.”</p>
<p>“It’s not that easy,” he growled.</p>
<p>“Then let me help you,” Azula smiled warmly, extending one hand. “Lay every doubt, every secret fear, every worry on me. I’ll talk you through all of them, all day if I have to. Trust me,” she tapped her temple with two fingers, “I know all about how to work through mental blocks.”</p>
<p>“I’d rather explode,” Zuko said, going through the motions once again.</p>
<p>He did.</p>
<p>As the prince hit the floor on his back again, he could see his sister staggering back as well, clutching at her face just as his burned. When she let go of it, Azula’s expression was considerably less benevolent.</p>
<p>“Stop that!” the princess ordered sharply. “You’re only causing us both more pain!”</p>
<p>“I don’t give up,” the prince snapped back, forcing himself to his feet.</p>
<p>“Yes, I can see that, and it’s part of your problem. Lightning isn’t something you can acquire by bashing your skull into the wall and hoping it breaks before you do. You need to <em>think</em>, Zuko!”</p>
<p>“Think like you, you mean.”</p>
<p>“Yes!” Azula said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And that’s why you need to tell me everything! To let me ease your mind, absolve you of whatever imaginary sins you think you’ve committed, and calm your temper.”</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t do that even if I did trust you,” he declared firmly, right before exploding again.</p>
<p>“You don’t have a choice, dumdum,” she continued as he lay sprawled out on his back, rubbing her tailbone, “If you want to please Father and show him that you’re my equal, you need to overcome this mental block! And to do that you need the brains to think through this mental conundrum, which you clearly don’t have!”</p>
<p>Zuko panted, sweating and smoking, before forcing himself back onto his feet for another try. At least the tapestry on the wall was marginally softer than the floor.</p>
<p>“Urgh…” his sister moaned. “How do you feel all this pain and not know when it’s time to quit?”</p>
<p>“I got half my face burned off and spent three years chasing myths and rumors on the high seas,” he pushed himself off the wall, staggering a few steps forward and rubbing his bicep. “Not giving up is what I’m good at.”</p>
<p>“A komodo rhino has more sense than you!” Azula snapped as he wound up for another sequence. “At least they know when to stop charging at a solid rock after the third or fourth – OW!”</p>
<p>Zuko was back on the floor again, this time on his stomach.</p>
<p>“Are you aiming to torture me?” she continued after a brief spell. “Or are you wanting to please Dad?”</p>
<p>“I want my father to be proud of me,” he declared boldly, though only half sure that he meant it. “I want to honor the Fire Nation and prove that I’m a worthy prince.”</p>
<p>“Then <em>talk to me</em>!” she demanded. “I’m here to help! We’ll work out your mental blocks the same way we took down Ba Sing Se – together!”</p>
<p>“I’m not an idiot,” he insisted, right before exploding yet again.</p>
<p>“I… disagree,” Azula clutched at her chest. “What in Agni’s name do you think I could do with the contents of your mind that would bring you more pain than you’re insisting on suffering right now?!”</p>
<p>“Owww…” the prince groaned from where he lay, singed clothes continuing to smoke.</p>
<p>“Can’t you get anything right?” she hissed. “Even when I was a child I never exploded! You know why? Because I wasn’t a mentally shut-up ditherer with an emotional baggage train a mile long!”</p>
<p>“Stop it,” he warned, breathing hard and sitting up.</p>
<p>“No, I won’t stop, because you won’t stop hurting me with your incompetence!” His sister snapped. “You’re going to humiliate us both in front of Dad! Whatever your inane misgivings can’t be worse than that. Tell me about them instead of trying to kill us!”</p>
<p>“I couldn’t do it before...” he forced himself to stand despite all the pain. “And I still can’t,” he groaned.</p>
<p>“But I can, and I can help you if only you’ll trust me!” She was almost shouting by this point. “It’s the only way to succeed, Zuko! To impress Father and prove that you’re a worthy Crown Prince! Just <em>listen to me</em>!”</p>
<p>“Urgh… I just…” Zuko growled in frustration, pulling at his own hair, “wish lightning wasn’t so hard for me anymore!”</p>
<p>There was a single moment of perfect silence, while Zuko’s brain caught up with his mouth. His good eye widened as he processed the implications of that statement, gaze darting over to his sister. Her eyes were the widest he had ever seen them, her mouth open. Azula backed off several steps even as her arms rose by her sides. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head rapidly from side to side.</p>
<p>The next moment, her eyes shot open again. Pupilless orbs of pure sapphire light stared out at him, flames licking the edges of her sockets.</p>
<p><strong>“As you wish it,”</strong> Azula said in a voice that was both her own and not, rising several feet off the ground, <strong>“so shall it be.”</strong></p>
<p>Then she was directly in front of him. His sister hadn’t moved an inch, one moment she had been halfway across the room and the next she was simply <em>there</em>. Zuko didn’t even have time to flinch before her hands darted out at the speed of thought, one slamming into his chest and the other grabbing him none too gently by the hair. Her right thumb pressed hard onto the center of his forehead, forcing his head back and upwards. The open ceiling and sky overhead dissolved into a blazing sea of blue. His body screamed in white-hot agony as fire blazed through every artery and vein all at once. The prince wanted to cry out in what he was sure would be a death shriek but couldn’t even force his tongue to move.</p>
<p>Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. Zuko staggered back, clutching his head, as the room around him suddenly came back into view. Sweat was pouring down his face, his heart pounding almost audibly in his chest. For a moment all he did was stare down at one sweaty palm and breathe hard, struggling to process what had just happened.</p>
<p>“What…” he panted, managing to look up at Azula, who was looking at her own two hands with wide eyes. “What did you do?”</p>
<p>“What do you think I did?” her words were a strangled hiss, her perfect teeth visibly grinding. “I granted your wish.”</p>
<p>“I don’t feel… any different,” he turned his hand over. Beyond the perspiration, it looked the same as it always had.</p>
<p>“And why would you expect to? Just try it if you don’t believe me.”</p>
<p>He had to admit that that made sense. If there was anything to this whole spirit mess, besides pain and Azula following him around all the time (same thing, really), then this was the chance to see proof of it. The scarred prince took several steps forward, inhaled deeply, and brought his arms around in those circular sequences once again, doing his absolute best not to react to the unfamiliar sensations racing through his insides and up his arms. He didn’t even dare to look at his hands as he brought them together, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the cloudless blue sky.</p>
<p>Two fingers rose in front of him, and a perfect storm of bluish-white electricity shot up and out into the wild blue yonder.</p>
<p>Zuko blinked. His mouth hung open. Grey smoke wafted from his fingertips, but he scarcely noticed. Almost without thinking about it, he fell into the form a second time. This time he watched with no small amount of awe as the crackling bolts took shape around <em>his</em> hands, staring wide-eyed as he launched a second strike upwards. He picked up the pace for the third one, moving through the winding sequence just a little bit faster, and continued to surprise himself with more cold-blooded fire.</p>
<p>It was… easy. Beyond easy, in fact. The prince’s mind didn’t feel any different, the questions gnawing at him and the feelings warring deep inside him had not gone away, nor faded in the least. It was just that now, when he performed the motions and wanted the lightning to come, it simply did, no questions asked. Zuko didn’t understand how that was possible at all, to bend the very laws of bending that Uncle and Father had both emphasized. He just knew that he was throwing one bolt of lightning after another into the air just as effortlessly as he breathed. He knew he ought to have felt elated at that moment, reveled in the sheer amount of power flowing from his hands. But the cold-blooded fire had done nothing to resolve his inner tensions, and so the electric storms he was sending skywards brought him no joy.</p>
<p>It was after maybe fifteen or twenty sets of going through the motions that Zuko’s eyes wandered from the clear sky and back down to the sister standing beside him. Or leaning against the wall beside him, as the case may be. Azula had her arms crossed and one leg wrapped around the other, looking almost relaxed if not for her face. On that she wore a frown so deep her eyebrows had almost merged into her eyes, with lips so curled she might have been force-fed an entire cart full of lemons.</p>
<p>“Why that look?” Zuko asked.</p>
<p>“Why that look? <em>Why that look?!</em>” Azula laughed, a harsh, bitter sound devoid of warmth. “You’ve stolen my lightning, dumdum! Made it so I look slow and second-rate next to you!”</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean t-”</p>
<p>“You reduce me to a servant, humiliate me in a farce of a duel in front of Dad, and now you’re one-upping me by stealing a technique you could never use on your own? How am I <em>supposed</em> to feel, Zuzu?”</p>
<p>“Azula, it’s not like that!” Zuko shook his head emphatically.</p>
<p>“Is this your revenge?” the princess asked in a cold tone. “Reduce me to your old role as second-best, take my place at our father’s right hand, and have me live out the rest of our shared days in your shadow, like you lived your childhood in mine?”</p>
<p>“Azula, when will you understand that I’m not out to hurt you?!” Zuko scowled right back. “I’m not like that!” He clenched his fists. “I’m not like <em>you</em>!”</p>
<p>“Oh Zuzu…” her words came slowly, a cruel and sardonic smile forming on her painted lips. “You’re more like me than you realize.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>By the time Father returned, some time later, Azula had regained enough control over herself to regret her emotional outburst. It was foolish and counterproductive, indulging base desires at the expense of her rational judgement. To openly show bitterness towards her brother meant that her efforts to woo him, to calm his troubled mind and get herself into his good graces, were all that much harder. He didn’t have to guess how she truly felt any more, she had told him out of her own lips. It was a foolish mistake worthy of Zuko himself. Father would not have been pleased.</p>
<p>That didn’t mean that she felt those emotions any less.</p>
<p>Her father sat cross-legged on his mat, face as cold as ever, while Zuko brought his arms around in careful circles. The princess felt like she was being made to suck a swamp frog, the way those unearned bolts of blue and white took shape around her brother’s hands. She had to force her face to remain calm the whole painful way through, though she at least managed to squeeze her eyes shut for the actual culmination. Azula bit down on her tongue to restrain a scream of envious rage, tuning out the crack and accompanying boom as best she could.</p>
<p>“Prince Zuko,” Father said a moment later, wearing a tight smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Very well done. To triumph so quickly over your earlier failures is a fearsome accomplishment.”</p>
<p>“Thank you,” the prince accepted with a formal bow.</p>
<p>To see Ozai praising her weakling brother, to see one of the rare proud smiles on his face – smiles that ought to be reserved for <em>her</em> – was almost unbearable. He hadn’t earned it! Zuko had not fought and scraped to perfect the lethal technique as she had, never endured the painful weight of crushing one’s own feelings into the utter stillness required. He had done nothing more than get lucky on the least fortunate day of her life, and now she had to suffer for it.</p>
<p>“And Princess Azula,” he turned to her, still wearing that same smile. “No other trainer in the Fire Nation could have guided your brother to success with such speed. Your ability as an instructor is truly prodigious.”</p>
<p>She bowed as well. “I am humbled by your praise,” the princess said, though in truth it simply rankled. For her mastery to be used as a means and not and end…</p>
<p>“Hold your heads high, both of you,” the Fire Lord commanded. “You are my children and my heirs, worthy scions of the blood of Sozin.” He stood tall, with hands clasped behind his back. “What the two of you have accomplished here today brings honor to us all.”</p>
<p>Azula didn’t feel that way one bit.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Later that very night, Zuko lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling.</p>
<p>He had done it again. For the second day in a row, he had decisively demonstrated his worth as a firebender in front of Dad’s eyes and been praised for it. His father had seen enough value in him to teach him a technique he’d only previously shared with Azula. That was concrete proof that the favoritism that had plagued him since childhood was coming to an end. He wasn’t just the weak child anymore. He was a real, and valued, member of the Royal House. The prince ought to have been pleased with what happened by any rational standard. Instead, all he felt was empty.</p>
<p>Was it because it was unfair of him, to have just suddenly gained talent out of nowhere? He didn’t think so, if he was being honest. Azula had always been blessed by a superabundance of firebending talent, and she had never hesitated for a moment to use that to show him up and gloat about it afterwards. It wasn’t as though she had made herself a prodigy, she was just born lucky. He didn’t think a bit of luck of his own was uncalled for.</p>
<p>So, if that wasn’t it, why wasn’t he pleased?</p>
<p>And what were those footsteps doing outside his door at this hour?</p>
<p>Zuko was quick on his feet, had been by sheer necessity for a long time. He was upright and out of bed even while the mysterious footsteps picked up their pace. He crossed the bedroom in a handful of light, quick paces, and threw open the door. The hallway outside was desolate, moonbeams shining in between curtains rustling in the gentle night breeze. The sound of hurried footsteps was fading down the hall to his right. Zuko whipped his head in that direction and saw…</p>
<p>A scroll?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The Legacy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, Azula found her brother standing amidst the portraits of the Royal Gallery, staring up at the images of Fire Lords past and present. The hallowed hall was filled with history stretching back hundreds of years, but for all of its somber magnificence she’d never spent much time in here. The dead were dead, after all, however glorious they had been in life. Drawing lessons from their stories was one thing, but she was no more inclined to venerate the spirits of her ancestors than any other kind of spirit. That time was better spent elsewhere.</p><p>“Good morning, Zuko,” she said to him in her best pleasant voice.</p><p>The prince didn’t respond, continuing to stare up at the regal portrait of great-grandfather Sozin.</p><p>“What, I can’t even get a friendly hello now?”</p><p>“What do you want, Azula?”</p><p>“Okay, look,” she glanced quickly around to confirm that they were alone, then sighed. “I wanted to apologize for what I said yesterday. What I accused you of. You were right, you aren’t a man driven by petty revenge, and I was wrong to say that you were. I’m sorry.” She bowed at the waist.</p><p>Zuko said nothing.</p><p>“Please understand, I was… a little out of it. I felt everything you felt. Every explosion, every fall, every bit of that hard stone floor. I never spent three years at sea, developing the kind of pain tolerance I realize you must have. After living the high life for all this time, I have to confess I may be a little dainty by comparison. Yesterday I was frustrated and in pain, and I took it out on you. Please, accept my apologies.”</p><p>“You don’t mean a word of that,” he said quietly, without turning around.</p><p><em>“Lucky guess,”</em> she thought sourly.</p><p>“If you won’t forgive me, I suppose I understand,” the princess said as she straightened up. “Any particular reason you’ve chosen to gaze upon the visages of our illustrious forbearers this morning?” When he continued giving her the cold shoulder, she decided to play one card she’d thought about keeping close to her chest. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with that scroll you received last night, would it?”</p><p>Zuko’s head turned enough for his good eye to stare her down. “How do you know about that?”</p><p>
  <em>“Because I’m having you followed, you dumdum.”</em>
</p><p>“I know everything that happens in this palace,” she crossed her arms and allowed herself a small smile. “Like I told you before, pay attention to what’s going on around you.”</p><p> “…The scroll mentioned our great-grandfather’s death,” her brother admitted after a bit of hesitation. “What do you know about it?”</p><p>“Let’s see,” Azula tapped her chin. “Great-grandfather Sozin died at the age of a hundred and two, after a long and glorious reign. Unbeatable in Agni Kai and mind undimmed to his last day, he passed peacefully, in his sleep. There were a few rumors that Grandfather smothered him with a pillow that night, but nothing ever came of them.” She shrugged. “In the end, he was an old and very successful man that met his end on his own terms.”</p><p>“What does that have to do with my destiny?” Zuko muttered.</p><p>“Nothing, considering that you’ve already fulfilled it.”</p><p>“There has to be more to this than one old man dying alone in bed.”</p><p>“Did the scroll say anything else?”</p><p>“Why would I tell you?”</p><p>“Because, like it or not, I’m going to be involved in most anything you do by sheer necessity, as long as you keep me like this. So, you may as well put my mind to work in your service, rather than waste it just puzzling your moves out after the fact.”</p><p>“Fine,” he grumbled. “It didn’t say anything else.”</p><p>“Did you try holding fire directly underneath it?”</p><p>Her brother’s good eye widened just a fraction.</p><p>“Zuzu, that’s one of the most common ways to conceal a message there is.” Azula put her hand on her hip. “Honestly, how are you going to handle court politics one day if you don’t even know the basics of intriguing?”</p><p>“I guess I figured I’d make you do it for me,” he actually smirked slightly at that.</p><p>“That’s either the worst idea you’ve ever had or the best,” she chuckled a little herself. “Now come on, let’s go see what this mysterious scroll is all about.”</p>
<hr/><p>“The Fire Sages keep the secret history in the Dragonbone Catacombs.”</p><p>A suitably cryptic hidden message, Azula thought. Obvious enough between that and the babble in the open message about Zuzu’s destiny who it had come from. She’d normally happily report the whole mess to Father and let him deal with Uncle’s apparent friends on the palace staff, but she couldn’t risk her brother feeling the Fire Lord’s wrath by association while she was still attached to him.</p><p>So here she was instead, kneeling in dark clothing behind an ornate pillar in the Fire Sages’ High Temple in the dead of night, waiting for the perfect opportunity to sneak into the hidden entrance to the sacred burial grounds of Fire Lords past. Honestly it was kind of dull as far as infiltrations went, hiding from a bunch of old men with fading eyesight and no reason to be on the alert. Really just a matter of waiting for them to be done in the catacombs for the night.</p><p>The moon had already reached its peak and was starting to wane by the time an opportunity came. The concealed stairway opened from below, and the last of the sages to be doing whatever they did down there stepped slowly out, exhaustion obvious from his slow pace. Once that particular old man was out of sight and a few minutes had passed with no signs of anyone else, she and her hooded and cloaked brother stepped out of the shadows.</p><p>From there, everything was simple. Firebend straight into the central funnel in the elaborate floor mosaic to trigger the secret stair, descend the winding staircase into the tombs below, find the statue of Fire Lord Sozin and apply more firebending. That gained the pair admittance to a dusty crypt littered with cobwebs. Azula wrinkled her nose distastefully at the lack of maintenance, wondering for a moment what her own tomb would look like someday before deciding that she didn’t care. Dead was dead, after all. Presumably the spirit world would have enough challenges of its own to keep her occupied.</p><p>Zuko was less interested in the condition of the tomb than with the cobweb-covered scroll case beneath the statue of a dragon, conveniently labeled “The Final Testament of Fire Lord Sozin”. Azula settled back against a statue, arms crossed, and watched patiently as he silently read through it, a frown on his face the entire time. The princess herself remained impassive for a few minutes, waiting with practiced nonchalance for him to finish. Eventually, her brother’s frown deepened.</p><p>“That can’t be it,” he muttered, looking the scroll up and down. “Where’s the rest of it?”</p><p>Azula raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t find what you were looking for?”</p><p>“This was supposed to tell me something about our great-grandfather’s death, but he’s still alive at the end.”</p><p>“Well, it’s <em>Sozin’s</em> final testament. Did you think he dictated it from beyond the grave?”</p><p>He just glared at her.</p><p>“Look, why don’t you let <em>me</em> take a look?” she offered. “Maybe I’ll find something you didn’t, again.”</p><p>“Fine,” he tossed the scroll at her. Azula snatched it out of the air effortlessly.</p><p><em>“As I feel my own life dimming,”</em> the testament began, <em>“I can’t help but think of a time when everything was so much brighter. I remember my friend, Roku.”</em></p><p>Azula raised an eyebrow. That was news to her. The official histories didn’t mention anything about the former Avatar and Fire Lord having been particularly close. Curiosity peaked, she read on.</p><p>It was an interesting story, the princess would give it that much. She listened as Sozin recounted his boyhood days with Roku, even going so far as to give away a royal artifact when the time came for the Avatar to leave all to ensure that his friend would have something of home to remember him by. She followed her great-grandfather through his maturation, his assumption of the throne. Sozin described the moment when it first occurred to him to spread the Fire Nation’s prosperity to the rest of the world in detail, that one crystal-clear realization setting the stage for the rest of his life. Of course, the Avatar had betrayed him when he began his great work, assaulting his Fire Lord and destroying half the palace in a towering rage. But her ancestor had been patient, and clever. He’d backed off overtly, while secretly continuing the Fire Nation’s industrial and military buildup far from the capital.</p><p>The next part earned a cruel smirk from Azula. Sozin described, in great detail, the night when he had seen the plumes of black smoke rising from Roku’s island, even at such a great distance. Every citizen of the Fire Nation knew what such a thing meant, and so the Fire Lord had rushed to the Avatar’s aid on the back of his dragon. The two had fought nature together and even appeared to be winning for a time, and then…</p><p>The princess had to give her great-grandfather credit. He was a masterful storyteller. She could practically see the look of shock and horror on Roku’s face when he lay there, half-blinded and choking on toxic volcanic fumes, reaching out his hand to his oldest friend… and being denied. Slaying the Avatar was a family tradition, who knew? The official chronicles had it that Avatar Roku had been dead before the Fire Lord even arrived.</p><p>The only odd thing about it was Sozin’s tone of voice. Even through a scroll, when he described the Avatar’s passing, it didn’t sound like he was terribly happy about it. A sense of melancholy infused the remainder of the tale. Even when the great comet returned twelve years later and the Air Nomads were eliminated, the testament failed to convey any sense of triumph. She didn’t quite understand why, he’d had everything a man could want. Power, riches, adoring subjects, a faithful heir. Maybe old age had gotten to him?</p><p>Sozin’s tale ultimately ended on a somber note, with the elderly Fire Lord wasting the remainder of his life searching in vain for the Avatar’s next incarnation. A fate that all had thought awaited her brother – one that ought to have.</p><p>“Well,” the princess said, looking up. “A neat little piece of family history, but I don’t see what it has to do with you or your destiny to be Fire Lord.”</p><p>“Neither do I,” Zuko said irritably, getting to his feet. “Come on, we’ve got one more stop to make.”</p><p>“Really?” Azula sighed. “Don’t tell me you’re going to muddle your mind even further by visiting him.”</p><p>Her brother didn’t answer, sweeping from the dusty crypt with that same scowl covering his face. The princess rolled her eyes but had no choice but to follow.</p>
<hr/><p>The prison tower just outside the capital proper was quiet this time of night. It was hardly ever lively, of course, being used primarily to hold prisoners of noble blood or others that the Fire Lord wanted close by for whatever reason, but the point stood. The guards were apparently familiar enough with Zuko to let him in without a fuss, though Azula’s presence raised a few eyebrows. Those she glared down with her well-practiced expression of withering contempt, and wisely none of them said anything.</p><p>Azula didn’t know exactly which cell Uncle was being kept in, and that was fine. She hadn’t cared for Father’s older brother when she was a child and he Crown Prince, and she cared even less now that he was a traitor. Zuko, unsurprisingly, knew right where he was being kept and unerringly led the way to him. The princess allowed herself to fall behind her brother, walking so softly that she almost glided across the rough stone floor. She leaned back against the wall a good distance down the hallway as Zuko yanked open a particular door and stormed inside. Far enough away to avoid most of the smell of prison rags – but close enough for her keen ears to eavesdrop. No point in missing out on anything.</p><p>“You sent this, didn’t you?!” Zuko, ever so blunt, began. “I found the ‘secret history’, which by the way should be renamed the history most people already know! The note said I needed to know about my great-grandfather’s death, but he was still alive in the end!”</p><p>“No,” said her uncle in a deep, gravelly voice. “He wasn’t.”</p><p>Azula noted that he didn’t admit to sending anything. Probably wise, considering the number of guards that intermittently patrolled these halls.</p><p>“What are you talking about?” her brother asked.</p><p>Uncle didn’t say anything for a little while. Azula frowned. It wasn’t like him not to go off on a lengthy anecdote at the slightest provocation. But then, maybe he still harbored a grudge over what had happened back in the Earth Kingdom.</p><p>“Prince Zuko?” his royal tea-loving kookiness eventually spoke again. “I see you have not come alone today. Would you please tell whoever is listening outside to come inside?</p><p>Out in the hallway, Azula’s eyes widened. She’d been so quiet. How could he have known? She shook her head and pursed her lips, then pushed herself off the wall before her brother had a chance to respond. She doubted he could lie their way out of it to save either of their lives.</p><p>“Princess Azula?” she was pleased to note that Uncle’s eyes widened as she pulled open the cell’s door. “I was not expecting to see you here.”</p><p>“Life has a funny way of throwing surprises at you,” she said as nonchalantly as possible while strolling up to beside her brother.</p><p><em>“Like how when everything was said and done, your precious nephew chose </em>me <em>over you,”</em> she mentally gloated.</p><p>Uncle cut a more pathetic figure than ever, dressed in those shabby brown prison rags. He had obviously lost weight during his stay in that squalid, bare cage. His grey hair was long, unkempt, and greasy from infrequent bathing. He had always been on the shorter side but seated on the uncovered floor with his head bowed he looked even smaller than usual. It was almost impossible to believe that he and a man as magnificent as Father shared the same blood. At least <em>her</em> brother had retained some good looks.</p><p>“Consider me… Zuzu’s emotional support.” The princess patted the prince on the shoulder. “Rest assured that whatever you say here will be taken in complete confidence.”</p><p>“Yes…” his eyes wandered down to her wrists for a moment, then flicked back up to meet her gaze. “I can see that.”</p><p>Azula blinked. Could Uncle see… No, that was impossible. Father couldn’t perceive her shackles, there was no way this washed up old has-been could do it.</p><p>“I suppose it is for the best that you both are here,” Iroh continued. “Because you both have a right to know.”</p><p>“Know what?” Zuko and Azula said at the exact same moment.</p><p>“To know that you have more than one great-grandfather.” He sighed. “Your father’s grandfather was Fire Lord Sozin. Your mother’s grandfather was Avatar Roku.”</p><p>Azula took in a sharp hiss of air, eyes narrowing at Uncle. He met her stare stoically, and she could find no hint of untruth on his face. Beside her, Zuko flinched, his eyes widening perceptibly.</p><p>“And why…” the princess managed to recover first, “would you want Zuko, and incidentally me, to know that?”</p><p>“Because understanding your shared past is key to understanding your present,” Iroh said. “The legacy of these two men lives on through you. Roku and Sozin are a part of who you are – who you <em>both</em> are. To understand them is to better understand what is inside of yourselves.”</p><p>Azula rolled her eyes. Destiny again. As if fate made men, and not the other way around.</p><p>Zuko, though, seemed to be taking it a bit more seriously.</p><p>“You’re saying that the reason I’m so uncertain,” he eyed Azula warily, “is because I have two legacies fighting inside me?”</p><p>“Where you come from imparts more to your nature than you think,” Uncle looked into his nephew’s eyes. “What you do with it is up to you. Born in you is the potential to restore the world to its rightful state, or to shatter it forever. Choose wisely – your smallest acts may have consequences far beyond your reckoning. You read for yourselves that Sozin realized that, before the end.”</p><p>“I’m afraid the consequences you feared have already come to pass, Uncle,” The princess’ eyes were virtual slits as she put a hand on Zuko’s shoulder. “The Avatar is dead, and the Fire Nation rules the world unchallenged. Talking about two dead old men won’t change anything.” She pursed her lips. “My brother’s choices, and mine, have already been made.”</p><p>“Hmmm…” Iroh’s face was impassive.</p><p>“Come on, Zuko.” How Azula wished she could properly tug on him that moment. “Let’s get out of here. Leave the traitor to rot.”</p><p>Zuko didn’t respond, continuing to stare through the cage bars as their old uncle got to his feet, walking over to the far wall. The princess had little choice but to watch the sad old man pull a brick from the wall, then extracted a small bundle of brown. She immediately considered the possibility of reporting him for contraband, then dismissed it as too risky. Too many unfortunate questions around that could land Zuko, and by extension her, in hot water.</p><p>“This is a royal artifact,” Uncle said as he unwrapped a small, two-pronged golden headpiece. “It’s supposed to be worn,” he looked her brother right in the eyes one more time, “by the Crown Prince.”</p><p>Zuko reached out with a slightly trembling hand and took it, staring down in silence. Azula saw the look on his face and scowled.</p>
<hr/><p>“Well,” Azula said as the siblings made their way out of the prison, “That was an interesting piece of historical trivia. And you even got a cute little souvenir to remember it by. An amusing enough distraction, to be sure.”</p><p>“It doesn’t mean anything at all to you?” Zuko asked in his low voice. “That… we killed the reincarnation of our own great-grandfather?”</p><p>“No, why should it?” Azula raised an eyebrow. “Have you read our family history since we were in school? Relatives killing relatives is something of a reoccurring feature until fairly recently.”</p><p>“You’ve tried to kill me.”</p><p>“Only when I had to. I spared your life and restored your honor when given the choice.”</p><p>“Thanks,” he said sarcastically.</p><p>“Gratitude is befitting a prince,” she chided him.</p><p>Zuko lapsed into silence for some time. The two of them slipped quietly out of the prison tower with as few guards the wiser as possible, making their way back towards the fine houses of the caldera city proper. It was quiet out at this hour, only a few lamps still lit in windows. Besides a few lonely guard patrols wandering the streets, the two were alone as they walked the moonlit capital. Azula kept a close eye on her brother’s face as they went, noting the way his eyes kept slipping towards his feet, how he wouldn’t look at her.</p><p>“Something about what just happened is bugging you,” she said softly, as they slipped through an alleyway. “Why?”</p><p>“None of your concern.”</p><p>“I beg to differ,” she frowned. “As long as I’m bound to your side, any concern of yours is a concern of mine.”</p><p>“No,” he said simply.</p><p>“Don’t tell me that you’re taking what Uncle said seriously,” Azula eyed him up. “Being descended from a pair of men that once clashed is hardly predictive of inner turmoil. Why, look at me. I have the same bloodline as you, and do you see me getting worked up about one great-grandfather leaving another great-grandfather to die? Hardly.” She rolled her eyes. “Not the worst thing someone on our family tree has done to someone else.”</p><p>“You always were the cold one.”</p><p>“It’s called knowing your place, Zuzu. Something you’ve always struggled with. I don’t know what it is about that brain of yours that makes you so indecisive. Destiny this, honor that, you’ll never be at peace until you learn to accept who you are and where you come from. You’re Crown Prince of the Fire Nation and your destiny is to rule the world after Father’s had his turn. Simple as that. I don’t know why that’s so difficult to get into your skull.” The princess shook her head. “Honestly, some days it’s a wonder you can settle on what to wear.” She paused a moment. “Maybe Mom dropped you on the head when you were a baby?”</p><p>Zuko huffed, then looked away, up into the night sky. The siblings walked in silence for a short while before he spoke again.</p><p>“If it’s all about accepting your place and it’s so easy, why haven’t you?” The prince asked.</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“If I become Fire Lord, what will that make you?”</p><p>“The Fire Lord’s sister, and presumably Crown Princess if you haven’t had your own little bundle of joy by then.” Azula narrowed her eyes. “Why do you ask?”</p><p>“Because that would make you second to me. And you don’t seem to like that much.”</p><p>The princess cursed internally. This was what came of showing your emotions. Even a muddle-brained oaf like her brother could see through her lies when she’d bitterly spouted the truth at him in a moment of weakness.</p><p>“Well, firstly, there is a difference between being the most powerful bender and having the most political power, you know. There are even laws on the books for nonbending Fire Lords.”</p><p>Which hadn’t been used in centuries, thank Agni. The last thing the Fire Nation needed was some weakling crawling onto the throne by virtue of blood right and nothing more. The only really relevant parts were those allowing a sitting Fire Lord to name a willing champion for an Agni Kai. A few rulers had gotten some mileage out of that in their later years.</p><p>“And secondly, I was Crown Princess for three years, and I suppose I got used to thinking of myself as the heir while you were away. Expectation breeds habit, you know,” Azula went on. “Third, I have been Father’s favorite since childhood, and I suppose feeling as though that were threatened could make me feel a little defensive. But that’s not the same as being his heir. And finally, like I said before, I was in pain at the time. You know how hard it is to think clearly when you keep exploding.”</p><p>Zuko eyed her, suspicion all too clear in his gaze.</p><p>“I promise that when you’re Fire Lord, I’m ready to serve you just as I do Father,” the princess lied. “When I become human again, I will remain a loyal sister and supporter of the throne. On my honor.” She gave her best impression of a friendly smile.</p><p>“You seem to be taking that for granted.”</p><p>“That I’m going to be human again? You’re going to have to wish me free after the eclipse is through with. You know that, right? I can hardly govern New Ozai if I’m stuck a few hundred feet from your throne in Ba Sing Se.”</p><p>“Or I could just wish for a longer chain.”</p><p>
  <em>“And here I was hoping you hadn’t thought of that.”</em>
</p><p>“Plotting how to keep your baby sister on a leash forever, Zuzu? I thought you said that you weren’t like me – at least the version of me that exists in your head.” Azula sized him up as best she could. “Mom would be ashamed of you.”</p><p><em>That</em> got a reaction. Her brother turned his hooded face away from her as best he could, but she could still see that he was looking down. Mommy’s perfect little boy cared so very much about what she thought, even all these years after Ursa had disappeared. Azula, naturally, knew better than to care what a most likely dead nonbender thought about anything.</p><p>“You know that however little Mom liked me, I’m still her daughter. Would she want you keeping her daughter as a servant for the rest of her days? What would she say if she were here now?”</p><p>Azula barely kept back a grin as Zuko pulled his hood tighter around his scarred head, still refusing to face her. He was so laughably weak at heart, the same helpless little boy she’d toyed with even as a child. So dependent on Mom, on Uncle, on Father for validation.</p><p>“I’m just saying-”</p><p>“What would Dad say to you?” he suddenly shot back.</p><p>Azula froze, skipping a step. It only lasted a moment before she was hurrying to catch up again, of course. She had better self-control than to be affected by such a crude reversal.</p><p>Father loved his proud, beautiful, perfect prodigy of a daughter. Even if she was… slightly shamed before him, he wouldn’t desert her. He would help her if she needed it, because she was the best of all his children. It was Zuko who was expendable in his eyes, she was his treasure. She could count on him to support her, even through something like this.</p><p>A small voice in the back of her mind asked if that was so, then why hadn’t she just told him everything? She quite rationally replied that it was because she didn’t want to be shamed at all or bring any shame to him, and because she didn’t want Zuko using a wish to try and weasel out of it, in that order. Then she forced the errant thought back down into her subconscious with all of her considerable reserves of mental strength.</p><p>Azula and her brother walked the remainder of the way back to the palace in silence.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. The Wait</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Azula looked like she was dancing.</p>
<p>It was a strange thought to be having in the middle of a sparring match, part of Zuko knew. But it was true all the same. His sister’s feet were barely touching the ground at all as she sold backwards across the scarred stone floor of the sparring room. For the fifth time in the last two weeks, the two of them were training before the eyes of Fire Lord Ozai. Father didn’t bother explaining why he wanted them to compete any more than he had when the two were children. Some things never changed.</p>
<p>Today’s exercise was in close quarters fighting and martial arts. Zuko wasn’t permitted to use his actual broadswords for a practice bout so near to the invasion, obviously, but firebending could provide at least a passable substitute. The twin blades of orange and yellow didn’t feel quite right in his hands, didn’t have the same sense of balance and weight as his steel swords, but they at least let him use his favored style.</p>
<p>For her part, Azula preferred to meet the dual swords with nothing more than her dancer’s grace. As Zuko came on, she retreated, staying just ahead of each strike. Her footwork was superb, her body more flexible than anyone he knew, save only for Ty Lee. He swung for her abdomen, she took five steps back on her tiptoes. He stabbed at her head, she bent over backwards just enough to allow the blow to pass right over the tip of her nose. His other blade sliced for her leg, and she backflipped just out of reach.</p>
<p>She wasn’t trying to fight back. Her handful of counterattacks had been perfunctory at best. Azula was just leading her brother on a merry dance back and forth across the sparring room, her familiar confident smirk unwavering on her face the whole time. It was obvious enough what she wanted, even to Zuko. Her evasive, energy-efficient style, that smug expression that he had learned to hate, and of course her secret condition all made it perfectly clear. If she couldn’t outright strike him down herself, she could let him make a fool of himself in front of Dad until he was too exhausted to continue.</p>
<p>No one could deny that she was an expert at what she did. Her entire body had been a weapon almost since the time she could walk, and she’d never hesitated to take full advantage of any new techniques she could find. They’d already been at this one spar for a quarter of an hour or more. But the prince refused to allow himself to be baited, to be humiliated by Azula. He’d had enough of that for one lifetime.</p>
<p>Zuko came on with a steady, measured approach that Master Piandao might have been proud of. His eyes remained locked firmly on her while his flaming swords probed her for weaknesses. Back and forth they went across the chamber, again and again, Azula always one step ahead, Zuko refusing to commit to an all-out blitz against her. He had to give it to her, when she abandoned everything else to concentrate solely on her own defense, he had a hard time imagining even an airbender pinning her down. But that didn’t mean she was invulnerable.</p>
<p>If there was one thing that defined Azula, it was the need to be perfect, and even more importantly to be seen to be so. To fail was anathema to her, to fail in front of others even more so. But if there was anything in the world that she truly feared, it was failing in front of Dad. And, since their return from Ember Island, she had. Multiple times. However confident she might appear, that fact had to be eating at her. It would hardly matter that each incident was ridiculously stacked against her by any reasonable standard. She’d take it personally anyway. She’d blurted out as much to him when he’d “stolen” lightning.</p>
<p>The princess was eager to impress Father. Father was here. It wasn’t difficult to guess what might happen.</p>
<p>She thought he didn’t notice. The Zuko of a few months before wouldn’t have noticed. The Zuko who had been forced to endure weeks of trekking across the Earth Kingdom, always on the lookout for soldiers of both sides, hungrily searching for his next meal, and constantly checking behind him for signs of pursuit? He did. It was such a small thing too. Every so often, at the culmination of some particularly tight acrobatic maneuver that brought her within a hair’s breadth of her brother’s swords, Azula’s golden eyes would flicker away from her brother for just an instant. He knew that she was looking for some sign of approval on Father’s impassive face. He doubted she would find any.</p>
<p>So, as their duel approached its twentieth straight minute, Zuko began to slow his strikes. He began to breathe a little harder than was strictly necessary. He couldn’t fake sweat trickling down his face, but then he didn’t need to. Azula’s expression didn’t waiver, her acrobatics didn’t slow. If anything, they became more elaborate, the princess putting a little bit more flourish into each move. A minute passed in this slower routine. A second minute. Then a third. His sister began cutting it closer with every attack, silently mocking him with just how near she could let the flames pass and remain unscathed.</p>
<p>Zuko thrust one of his swords for his sister’s gut. Azula neatly sidestepped, allowing it to pass tantalizingly close while his other blade lashed out for her head. She ducked beneath it so elegantly that it might have been a courteous bow, so utterly in control that the slice went directly over her topknot without harming a hair on it. As she was rising again, he caught her gaze flickering for the space of a single heartbeat. He spun around, bringing his whole body to bear in a high, dual-bladed slash. Her eyes immediately darted back towards him, instinctively focusing on the bright, flashing, fiery swords coming for her head. She didn’t see the spinning low kick coming for her ankles until a split second too late.</p>
<p>The prince had always been strong for his age, as anyone who’d ask the idiot who’d tried to flirt with Mai back on Ember Island could tell you. It only took one connecting hit to take Azula’s feet out from under her, and that was it. Almost anticlimactic, really.</p>
<p>As he stood there, glancing between his cold-eyed father behind him and his sour-faced sister lying staring up at him from the floor, Zuko found that for once he could almost pity her.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Days rolled slowly into weeks, and not particularly enjoyable weeks from Azula’s perspective. It was still the high point of summer, just after the solstice, and the weather over the caldera city was bright and warm. Firebenders ought to be enjoying this time of year, savoring the extra vigor that the Sun Father’s light brought them. But her brother couldn’t even seem to do <em>that</em> right, continuing to be as gloomy and indecisive as before.</p>
<p>Far worse than just Zuzu being Zuzu was being made to spar in front of Father. She hated that beyond measure. Being sent in to lose a rigged match again and again… it was best to say that her wounded pride would be avenged in due course and leave it at that. Raging about it and snapping in front of her brother again would only make everything harder. She <em>still</em> didn’t have enough of an angle on him to leverage her freedom.</p>
<p>The day before the eclipse was scheduled to arrive saw Azula lounging around the first floor of Mai’s family home by sheer necessity, while her boring brother and crabby friend did… whatever couples did on the second floor. She didn’t really know, and that would have wounded her pride even more if it hadn’t already been so thoroughly inflamed. The two of them were up there for a good long while before servants from the palace showed up to look for their prince and princess. There was a war meeting to get to, after all.</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Welcome, Prince Zuko, Princess Azula,” Fire Lord Ozai’s voice was about as pleasant as it ever got. “We’ve been waiting for you.”</p>
<p>The two siblings swept into the throne room together, walking on opposite sides of the great map surrounded by Father’s highest-ranked officer. Azula found it notable that Ozai had dispensed with the usual darkness and wall of flame keeping him symbolically separate from and above the rest, instead opting for far brighter lighting than usual around his throne. The full view of his face humanized him, when he usually preferred a shadowy sort of divination. He must be in an unusually good mood today.</p>
<p>The Fire Lord gestured, and Zuko took his place – her rightful place – at Father’s right hand with a customary bow from the waist. Azula did likewise on his left, seating herself on a crimson silk cushion and crossing her arms. Her eyes were already scanning the massive woven map displaying the Earth Kingdom, covered in small red figurines and sporting a concerning number of green flags scattered across it.</p>
<p>“General Shinu,” Father nodded. “Your report.”</p>
<p>“Thank you, sir,” the man nodded as he stood up, arms behind his back. “Ba Sing Se is still under our control, but the number of troops necessary to properly secure it have left several of our other garrisons dangerously undermanned.”</p>
<p>Like the rest of the Fire Nation’s military, the General didn’t trust the snakes in the Dai Li any further than he could see them. Azula didn’t blame him – the earthbenders had chosen her because she was the best option for themselves and their own power. Better to have troops more solidly devoted to the Royal House occupying the world’s largest city.</p>
<p>“Earthbender rebellions have become increasingly numerous since the fall of the Earth Kingdom’s central government,” General Shinu continued, indicating the flags popping up all over the vast continent. “We’ve had numerous confirmed reports of entire patrols along outlying routes simply disappearing, garrisons in several of the more remote areas have fallen completely out of contact, and there have been at least three full-scale attacks on garrisoned fortifications by local forces numbering at least several hundred. One was successful in overrunning our defenses completely.”</p>
<p>Azula risked a glance at her father’s face, and saw it was pulled tight.</p>
<p>“What is your recommendation?” the Fire Lord asked.</p>
<p>“Our armies are spread too thin across the map to maintain effective control of all of it. Once the eclipse is over and the invasion has been defeated, we should transfer more of our domestic forces into the former Earth Kingdom. There will be no further threats that mandate such large garrisons on the home islands.”</p>
<p>Azula pursed her lips, looking out over the map. Judging by all the incident flags scattered throughout the southern and eastern regions of the continent – those most recently conquered – there were rebel hotspots in over a third of the kingdom. It was impossible to determine the exact numerical strength of ragtag, disconnected bands of disaffected locals, of course, but evaluating the sheer number of confirmed and probable engagements, she would wager they were dealing with at least twenty thousand insurgents. With so much of the continent consisting of underdeveloped villages, forests, mountains, and impassible desert, there was no shortage of places to hide. There could easily be twice her estimated number of enemies, just waiting for the right moment to strike.</p>
<p>Waging a counterinsurgency campaign against a population that outnumbered their own by a considerable margin would be a decade-long endeavor, if not more. The problem was sheer scale. The Fire Nation had long focused on occupying major population centers, seizing critical resources, and defeating enemy armies in open battle. It was the most efficient way to use their smaller but more advanced, more disciplined, more united army. That strategy had effectively taken the Earth Kingdom as an organized entity apart, piece by piece. But that very focus on the most important targets meant that whole swathes of the map had been virtually ignored, or else patrolled in only the loosest possible sense. It hadn’t been as much of an issue when Ba Sing Se stood, inviting the discontent to the dubious safety of its impenetrable walls.</p>
<p>But with the capital gone as a safe refuge, those who didn’t wish to meekly submit to their conquerors now had their backs truly to the wall. And earthbenders, as anyone with military experience could tell you, were notoriously stubborn. If they had nothing left but to make the Fire Nation pay dearly for every inch of ground, then that’s precisely what they would do.</p>
<p>More troops wouldn’t solve this issue in an acceptable timeframe, the princess knew. The army would bleed itself white digging mudbenders out of their holes for year after year, and the fundamental problem would remain the same. The Fire Nation would have to concentrate their forces in major centers of population and industry to maintain control, while the insurgents could go to ground anywhere. The rebels, with access to vast reserves of manpower in the under-patrolled countryside, could maintain a war of attrition for Agni only knew how long. To claim total victory in any amount of time Father would find palatable, they needed a more comprehensive solution.</p>
<p>“Hmmm…” judging from the ambivalent tone in Father’s voice, he agreed. “Prince Zuko, your travels have taken you among the Earth Kingdom commoners. Do you think adding more troops will stop these rebellions?”</p>
<p>Azula glared jealously over at her brother as he looked down at the map himself. She ought to have been the one consulted first, she’d learned far more military history and strategy than him. She had led the conquest of Ba Sing Se. She had been the one to subvert an entire organization of earthbenders to their side. Obviously, she had proven that she knew more about the Earth Kingdom mindset than any amount of time slumming with peasants could have taught Zuko.</p>
<p>“The people of the Earth Kingdom are… proud,” Zuko said. “Proud and strong. They can endure anything, so long as they have hope.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” the Fire Lord said thoughtfully. “Yes, you’re right. We need to destroy their hope.”</p>
<p>“We need a single, overwhelming blow,” Azula took the risk of speaking out of turn. Father’s gaze turned upon her, and she knew that it was now or never. “One decisive strike to break the back of our enemies. Their strength is in their ability to strike from the shadows, in the vast uncharted territory they can hide in.” Her voice was cold. “We need to burn it. Burn it to the ground.”</p>
<p>It was a cold, brutal calculation. Just the sort Father had trained her to make, just the sort that pleased him. The Fire Nation didn’t need all that extra land, all those tiny villages and mid-sized towns. They had the home islands, the long-established colonies in the northwest, the vital population centers, and the critical hubs of industry. The insurgents? They did. It was as simple as that.</p>
<p>The princess looked up at her father, hoping, almost praying, that her gamble would pay off. He hated the slightest perception of disrespect, but surely her stock in his eyes had not fallen so low that he would ignore a good plan when he heard one? His golden eyes looked back down at her, piercing and inscrutable.</p>
<p>To her silent relief, the Fire Lord began to smile.    </p>
<p>“You’re right, Azula,” Ozai looked away from his daughter, rising smoothly to his feet. “And the moment for it fast approaches.”</p>
<p>“What are you suggesting, sir?” General Shinu was a bit of a slow one, wasn’t he?</p>
<p>“We will pull back our armies to our colonies and most valuable conquests,” said Ozai in a low, almost silky tone. “Allow the defiant fools to think they have us on the run. And then,” his smile began to broaden “Sozin’s Comet will return. On that day we will be imbued with the strength of a hundred suns. Nothing in all the world will be able to stand before us.” He stepped slowly down from his throne, towering over the Earth Kingdom like some mythical giant.</p>
<p>“From our airships, we will rain fire down upon the last remnants of the Earth Kingdom. Every city, every village, every scrap of land not under our absolute control will be reduced to ashes.” He was standing on the map itself now, arms raising up to the heavens. “And from the ruins will rise a new world, one where all the lands are Fire Nation, and <em>I</em> am the supreme ruler of everything!”</p>
<p>All around him, Generals and Admirals broke into applause, the great and good of the Fire Nation competing to cheer their leader’s plan the loudest. Azula was too dignified to clap along, but she allowed herself to smile broadly at Father’s moment. She didn’t even bother to look across the empty throne at her brother.</p>
<hr/>
<p>It wasn’t long afterwards that the siblings were wandering through the palace hallways again, with Azula feeling rather pleased with herself. If she couldn’t demonstrate value by defeating Zuko in physical combat, at least her mind remained superior. Surely, Father saw that? A ruler required more than simple brute strength, after all.</p>
<p>For whatever reason, the prince didn’t seem to share her upbeat mood. He hadn’t even smiled during his time with his girlfriend after the meeting, now he seemed to have gotten even more sullen than he was before. The princess hadn’t previously been sure that that was even a possibility. She walked beside her stony-faced brother for a good little while, aimlessly meandering through the winding palace corridors and secret passages. He never said a word to her throughout all that time, never even acknowledged her presence.</p>
<p>“What’s on your mind now, Zuzu?” Azula eventually spoke up, while the duo descended a hidden stairway. “I would have thought a day with Mai and a seat at Father’s right hand would have cheered you up a bit.”</p>
<p>“What <em>was</em> that?” Zuko replied in a low, clipped tone.</p>
<p>“What was what?”</p>
<p>“What you suggested back there,” he seemed to almost be having difficulty breathing. “What… Why did you do it?”</p>
<p>“Oh, that. I gave Dad an alternative to a decade or more of watering the Earth Kingdom with the blood of our soldiers. I’d have thought you’d be pleased with the idea. You know, no more bright-eyed Fire Nation youth having to be marched off to their doom and all that.” The princess shrugged her shoulders slightly. “Still, I’ll admit it’s not entirely ideal.”</p>
<p>“…Not entirely ideal?”</p>
<p>“Hardly the most efficient course of action. Torching so much usable farmland is going to tax our logistics to keep the colonies fed for a few seasons, we’re going to see a major economic downturn with the loss of a good portion of internal trade on the continent, and our intelligence network over there is going to be decimated. At least we won’t need spies among their commoners any longer.” Azula looked indifferent. “But still, it’s impressive enough for Father’s tastes and it’ll get the job done. No survivor’s going to have the stomach for a revolt for decades once they see what the consequences are.”</p>
<p>“Get the job done?!” Zuko whipped around to face her. His jaw was set, his voice low and harsh. It almost sounded like Father’s. “Azula, <em>millions</em> of people are going to die because of what you said, and that’s all you have to say about it?!”</p>
<p>“Is that what’s bothering you?” Azula gave a longsuffering sigh, putting a comforting hand on her brother’s shoulder. “Oh Zuzu, relax. They’re only dirt peasants. Barely even people to begin with. Hardly much of a price to pay for a prosperous and civilized world finally united under its divinely-appointed rulers.”</p>
<p>Her brother’s good eye widened briefly, then narrowed.</p>
<p>“Look, why don’t you come to the Royal Spa with me? Get a massage, smell some lavender, and recline in the hot springs together. Once you’re a little less tense, we can talk this out like rational adults.” The princess smiled. “It’s no good trying to make yourself understand why this is necessary while you’re coiled up tight like a piston spring.” She wrapped one hand softly around his, putting the other on his armored chest. “We need to get you nice and calm first.”</p>
<p>Zuko abruptly pulled his hand out of hers, turning his back to her and setting off briskly down the stairway without a further word. Azula gave a weary sigh as she watched him go, storming off like a child to sulk some more somewhere. Maybe he would break something. And just because he was a bit squeamish over a few harsh measures to preserve their rightful rule. He had a long way to go before he could even hope to be Fire Lord.</p>
<p>Hopefully once he’d worn himself out, she’d be able to get that massage.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. The Night Before</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was past sunset, and Zuko still hadn’t quite settled down. A good long walk through the palace corridors had done little to make him less morose, even if it had seemingly tired him out a bit. The prince was standing out on a high balcony overlooking the city lights, with the princess lounging against a nearby pillar, when a younger-looking woman in soft red robes made an appearance.</p><p>“Um, pardon me, your highness,” the girl bowed low at the waist, cast into shadow by the braziers positioned at either end of the balcony. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’ve been sent for you.”</p><p>“It’s alright,” Zuko had his back to her, though when he turned around his prior scowl was missing. “What is it?”</p><p>“It’s, um, the Fire Lord, my prince,” she bowed again. “He wanted to see you. For dinner, that is.”</p><p>“Oh, very well,” Azula said from the sidelines, pushing herself to her full height. “Tell Father that we’ll be there shortly.” She walked over and put her hand on Zuko’s shoulder. “We just need to get changed into more appropriate clothing for dinner with the Fire Lord.”</p><p>“I’m sorry, princess,” the unlucky servant girl wilted as Azula’s eyes narrowed at her. “But the Fire Lord specifically asked f-for the prince,” her voice was reduced to little more than a squeak. “You… w-weren’t invited.”</p><p>The heat coming from the braziers rose noticeably.</p><hr/><p>“Prince Zuko,” Fire Lord Ozai’s voice was as level and civil as it ever was, while giving nothing away. “Welcome. Be seated.”</p><p>From the inside of one of the countless bolt holes boring through a nearby wall, Azula could make out her father’s words with only a minimal amount of muffling. As she’d known she would, of course. She’d been acquainted with the countless ways to eavesdrop scattered throughout the palace since she was a little girl watching Grandfather order Zuko’s death. Sozin had riddled the entire palace with hidden passages after the assassination attempts picked up.</p><p>“Father,” Zuko’s voice was a careful balance of respect without excess formality. Azula could even hear his boots on the immaculately polished black tile floor. “I’m grateful for your invitation.”</p><p>A period of quiet followed, marked by the sounds of a few more pairs of shoes walking as softly as they could, the light clang of glass dishes on an onyx table, and cups being filled. The rich aroma might have made the princess hungry if she were still physically capable of being so, as it was it only annoyed her. Father didn’t speak again until the servants had cleared out.</p><p>“It is time,” the Fire Lord began slowly, “to speak of the future.”</p><p>“What about the future?” her brother’s voice was still cautiously respectful.</p><p>“You’ve reached the age of majority. It must have occurred to you that the time to arrange your marriage is fast approaching. Our bloodline must not waver.” The princess heard her father take a drink of something, likely the heavily spiced wine he favored over a formal dinner. “Suitable candidates for your bride are already being considered, but I felt it would be wise to take your thoughts under advisement. Do you have any preferences?”</p><p>“…No,” Zuko said.</p><p>“Really?” Azula knew Father’s voice well enough to detect the faintest hint of surprise. “I had been informed that you were growing close with Governor Ukano’s daughter. Were the reports mistaken?”</p><p>“She and I have hit a bit of a snag in our relationship. I wouldn’t say that we’re close right now.”</p><p>“Hmmm, pity. The girl is no firebender, but she is competent enough, with a worthy bloodline and a reputation for knowing her place in politics.” He seemed to mull it over. “She will continue to be evaluated. Inform me should anything of relevance take place.”</p><p>“Of course. But I’ll accept whoever you choose for me. I know my duty.”</p><p>“A dutiful son will go far.” She could virtually hear the smile on Ozai’s face. “I expect grandchildren by your twentieth birthday.”</p><p>“How many do you want?”</p><p>“Prudence dictates that there be at least two, should something befall one. Depending upon their spark, three might become necessary.”</p><p>“I’ll… do my best,” her brother coughed a little awkwardly.</p><p>“See that you do. It will behoove you to secure your bloodline at an early age.”</p><p>“Your wisdom is impeccable.”</p><p>“I know,” Father said simply. “Turning to the more immediate future, you and your sister are to depart the capital by airship at week’s end, to take up your governorships. By this time next week, the largest city in the world will be yours to command. I expect great things of you.”</p><p>“I’m honored to be trusted with such responsibility. I won’t fail you.”</p><p>“See that you don’t. It will be your task to oversee the transformation of the Earth Kingdom’s last bastion into a productive and loyal colony of the Fire Nation. To eradicate their old culture fully will be an arduous task in such a vast place, but the reward will be substantial. Use the occupation forces and Dai Li as you see fit. Teach the savages to revere proper authority by whatever means necessary.” Father took another drink. “You have my permission to construct a memorial there to your cousin, if you wish.”</p><p>“Uncle’s son?” the surprise in Zuko’s voice was evident.</p><p>“You were close when you were young, were you not? Lu Ten fought and died for the Fire Nation, as was only proper. His father’s treachery does not undo his loyalty to the throne. A reminder that a prince of the Fire Nation gave his life for this city will help to inspire our troops there, and something suitably grandiose may teach the locals something about proper reverence for the Royal House.”</p><p>“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” her brother said, and Azula snickered. He <em>never</em> thought about politics.</p><p>“There will be disturbances during your tenure,” Ozai continued. “Less, I gather, than in many other cities due to the continuing administration of the Dai Li, but some futile efforts at rebellion are inevitable in all newly-conquered lands. Particularly on the day of the comet and in the immediate aftermath, you must be prepared for turmoil. Steel your mind and do what must be done. Do not hesitate.”</p><p>“Of course, Father,” Zuko said stiffly, with what Azula imagined must be a formal bow.</p><p>“Remember, Ba Sing Se has a plentiful supply of peasants.”</p><p>“Yes.” The prince was the one to pause this time. “May I ask you something?”</p><p>“Speak your mind.”</p><p>“Why are you entrusting this to me?” Zuko asked. “Ba Sing Se is big enough to be its own small country. I’ve never done anything like this in my life. Even though I killed the Avatar there, it was still <em>Azula</em> that brought down the walls, not me. The Dai Li followed her, not me. So why?”</p><p>“Because you are my son,” he said, as if that explained everything. Then, after a moment, he continued. “And because you have surprised me.”</p><p>“How so?”</p><p>“You were a weak child. So emotional, so dependent on your mother, trailing so far behind your sister. When you were born, we were not even certain that you <em>were</em> a firebender. Though you were my firstborn, I questioned whether you would ever live up to our family’s legacy.”</p><p><em>“As well you should have,”</em> thought Azula from her hiding place.</p><p>“Imagine, then, my astonishment when I witnessed your internal flame burning brighter than Azula’s. And not simply once, but multiple times. The true prodigy, falling before you time and again without being able to land even a single glancing blow. Imagine what I saw when you achieved control of the cold fire in a fraction of the time that it took your sister,” the Fire Lord had a tone of voice Azula did not much care for. “Do you understand? I now have every reason to believe that your firebending potential <em>exceeds</em> hers.”</p><p>A knot of twisted, black jealousy wound tight in Azula’s gut. Even from her hiding spot she felt a great urge to cry out to Father, to rage and scream about how none of that was true, how Zuko was as weak as ever and every victory he had was through cheating. She had to settle for grinding her teeth instead.</p><p>“Then it became clear to me. Your years of exile and travels across the world have done you much good, have made you strong. In your time of great trial, the fire that I had spent so many years trying to coax out of you finally roared into life. You simply required a different method of instruction all along. That is why this task belongs to you. Let mastery of Ba Sing Se be for your ability to rule as the pursuit of the Avatar was for your firebending, and you will have all that you require.”</p><p>“All I require for what?”</p><p>“What do you imagine?” Father actually chuckled slightly. “Succeed in this task, my son, and you will have proven yourself a worthy heir to the throne.”</p><p>“What about Azula?” her brother asked quietly.</p><p>“What about Azula?” Ozai’s voice was again completely neutral.</p><p>“…Nothing,” Zuko said.</p><p>“I suppose that it would be wise in the coming years to arrange her union to a suitable nobleman in one of the newer colonies,” the Fire Lord speculated. The princess could just imagine him running one hand thoughtfully through his goatee. “To strengthen their ties with the homeland and minimize potential difficulties with succession.”</p><p>Azula’s eye twitched. Her jaw dropped. Her entire body shuddered before slumping back against the wall like a puppet with her strings cut. After all these years, after all the ceaseless training, after all her work in ending the war, after all she had sacrificed in the name of earning Father’s love, <em>this</em> was to be her reward. Effective exile from the home islands. Prestigious bloodline spent carelessly on irrelevant provincial nobility. And undoubtedly a place as <em>Fire Lord Zuko’s</em> errand-girl in the colonies.</p><p>The princess couldn’t hear what was said next, was not even trying to. She simply lay there in a heap, her mind whirling round and round in an endless loop. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be. It simply could not be. She was the favorite. She was the prodigy. She was the heir. Father wouldn’t throw <em>her</em> away so casually. Why would he? Just because she had lost a few duels? Because he thought Zuzu could rule a city? Because she looked worse at firebending now than her brother? No, he would never do that. He valued her too much. She was useful. She was <em>loved</em>. Zuko was the disposable one. Not her. Never her. She must have misheard – but that cold, detached side of her mind would not quite allow her to forget just how practiced she was with eavesdropping.</p><p>This was how it felt to be discarded, she eventually realized. This was how it felt to be treated like <em>Zuko</em>.</p><p>Zuko. This was all because of Zuko. Everything was his fault. Because of him, because of his petty grudge, she was watching her life crumble before her very eyes. Chained and bound like an animal, now cast out of the love she deserved, the only love she had. She had earned the right to Father’s affection, now he had spitefully stolen it. As he had stolen Mother’s. And now she had no one left at all, save perhaps Mai and Ty Lee. Now she was alone.</p><p>This wouldn’t be the last word, the princess vowed with clenched teeth and tear-stained cheeks. She was still the better child, she was still deserving of esteem, she couldn’t be cast out and left to rot. Azula would prove herself tomorrow, showing Father what a loyal and capable daughter he still had. Soon after, New Ozai would rise as a model of efficiency and loyalty, and he would notice.</p><p>And above all, Zuko was still Zuko. He didn’t have the decisiveness, the wit, or the ruthlessness to maintain the necessary iron grip on a hostile populace. Once he couldn’t rely on her to do all the heavy lifting, he would surely fail miserably at controlling Ba Sing Se. Soon enough Father would see that, and then she would be called in to salvage the city <em>she</em> had conquered in the first place. Then everything would be right again, surely.</p><p>Surely.</p><hr/><p>“Your brother is planning to flee the city,” Qiang Ru said from his position on one knee, head bowed.</p><p>“Come again?” Azula asked in a calm, silky tone, standing with her back to the Dai Li agent, hands folded behind her back. “I must have misheard you. It sounded like you just said that my brother is planning to run away.”</p><p>“I… did, my lady.”</p><p>“And why, pray tell,” the princess’ voice hadn’t changed, “would the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, future governor of Ba Sing Se, lately overly favored of the Fire Lord, be planning to run away?”</p><p>“I’m… not entirely sure,” the kneeling man said. “Prince Zuko’s motives are not always plain to me. But I can tell you with certainty based on experience, he <em>is</em> planning a sudden departure. He gave discreet orders to an officer to set aside one of the war balloons in an out of the way location. I was able to observe him receiving several spare sets of informal clothing from the servants, making a number of attempts at writing a letter of some kind, and displaying several signs of nervous behavior. I’ve seen this sort of behavioral pattern before, in dissidents preparing to flee Ba Sing Se. I would guess that he intends to use the chaos during the coming eclipse to slip away without being noticed.”</p><p>“Yes, well I’m afraid I find your story rather,” Azula turned around, a deep frown on her face. “Implausible.”</p><p>He blanched.</p><p>“You would have me believe that my brother, having gained everything that he’s yearned and striven for for years, having effectively usurped <em>me</em> in the Fire Lord’s eyes, now intends to throw all of that away for no particular reason you can identify?” She stared unblinkingly down at the withering agent. “Where, pray tell, would he even go? Some back-country village in the Fire Nation, where he would be nothing more than a messenger hawk away from discovery? The Earth Kingdom that’s crawling with our soldiers?”</p><p>And due to burn to cinders soon enough anyway, but she felt that might not be wise to tell the earthbender right now. Even the Dai Li might have a few qualms about the mass incineration of their countrymen.</p><p>“Or maybe he intends to hide out with the Northern Water Tribe?” the princess continued with mock-curiosity. “Tell me, did you happen to catch him packing winter clothing, by any chance? Any furs? How about warm beverages?”</p><p>“No, your highness.” He controlled his reactions well, only a trace of red was visible on his cheeks. “But I-”</p><p>“No, you didn’t,” Azula hissed. “Because your conclusion is idiotic. To throw away the status of second and heir to the single most powerful position in the entire world, just as the entire civilized world has come under Fire Nation control, takes a bigger fool than even my brother. He would be giving up his birthright, wealth and status and privilege beyond any others! And for what? Zuko would be hunted across the entire length and breadth of the globe for spitting on the Fire Lord’s own generosity. You can’t even identify a plausible reason he would want to do that, because there is none!”          </p><p>“But the balloon-”</p><p>“Zuko is the Fire Lord’s firstborn son!” The princess raised her voice without entirely meaning to. “He could have his own personal airship for a sightseeing tour just by asking. Do you not understand how wealthy our family is? One war balloon is <em>nothing</em> to us.” She snorted. “And informal clothing? Writing a letter? That’s your evidence he plans to trade his place at the top of the world for a short-lived career as a fugitive, followed by a life in chains? I would sooner believe that he was planning to ask Mai on a private airborne excursion and was just awkwardly trying to scribble out some half-baked love letter!”</p><p>“Your highness, I have to insist-”</p><p>“No,” Azula cut him off once again with eyes narrowed, voice dripping with contempt. “No, you don’t. I gave you the task of digging through my brother’s psyche, and you return to me with half-baked stories of meaningless escape plans to nowhere for no reason. Trying to look like you’ve accomplished something, no doubt. You’ve <em>failed</em> me, Qiang Ru,” she practically spat the word.</p><p>Her subordinate flinched but bowed his head and wisely said nothing more. Azula said nothing for a time, simply staring down at him with that piercing look she had worked so hard to copy from Father.</p><p>“Get out of my sight,” the princess eventually said in a cold voice. “Now. While I’m still feeling generous enough to let you go.”</p><p>Azula watched the Dai Li agent go without a further word, her eyes narrowed to slits. She’d considered throwing him in a dungeon for a spell – on charges of spying on royalty, naturally – but thought better of it. She would be needing his brother agents soon enough, and it would be bad for their morale to know one of their own was rotting in a metal cell somewhere.</p><p>Truthfully, she didn’t even consider the possibility of him being right. How could he be? Besides the many logical truths that she had used to dismantle his weak argument, beyond even the obvious fact that Zuko had already proven where his innermost loyalties lay, there was an even deeper truth that proved her man was simply an idiot. In the end, Azula knew that there was no more reliable a way to control someone than through fear. And, in her experience, no fear could quite measure up to the fear of Father. Zuko had tasted the merest fraction of Ozai’s wrath once before and would bear the token of it for the remainder of his life. She could be absolutely sure that her brother would not dare it again.</p><p>Her lackey’s failure was irritating, but for now it didn’t matter. Tomorrow she would prove herself the superior child. She would risk her life – so far as Father knew – to shield the Fire Lord from enemy infiltrators. And if everything proceeded as she suspected it would, she would get her chance to show Ozai how worthy she truly was of his love.</p><p>Tomorrow, <em>she</em> would kill the Avatar.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. The Black Sun</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Today was the day. The Day of the Black Sun, on which their few remaining enemies had pinned their last feeble hopes for victory in the war. The day on which their sad little attack would be routed, and any chance they would ever have to take the offensive crushed forever. After this, the war was nothing more than a final scorched-earth campaign to scour away their last traces of opposition. But more importantly to Azula, today was the day where she would regain her status as the favored child.</p><p>It was all so neat and tidy. She was sitting comfortably on her throne at the obvious heart of the bunker complex. Noncombat personnel scattered throughout the facility had been given instructions to supply any intruders with the “Fire Lord’s” location upon demand. Little Zuzu was concealed in a secondary chamber just above this one, giving her plenty of room to maneuver. The army outside would hold off the bulk of whatever force they had managed to scrape together, meaning that only a small, elite team could hope to make it here. And if her hunch proved correct, then that would be one team in particular.</p><p>It would be such a shame to deliver her report to Father about how Zuko’s flame had proven too weak in the end, how the Avatar had survived his final blow beneath Ba Sing Se after all. Fortunately, Ozai had her, and she would bring the Fire Lord the last airbender’s head to make amends for her brother’s incompetence. Shattering the illusionary achievement that she had built up for Zuko and overcoming the Fire Nation’s greatest threat at the same time ought to bring her up a notch in his esteem.</p><p>Truthfully, the waiting was the hardest part. The spacious underground chamber was incredibly well-insulated, for all that there was a war going on outside she could make out nothing but the sound of the crackling flames lighting the place. It was hardly practical to request situation updates from the surface. There was nothing much to do in this room but twiddle her thumbs while she felt her inner fire die away, hoping that someone would get around to breaking down the door.</p><p>Eventually, of course, they did.</p><p>Azula couldn’t hold back her smile when a titanic blast of wind ripped both of the metal doors off of their hinges, sending both crashing to the ground with a mighty, reverberating clang. A little unnecessary considering that neither were locked in the first place. But still, quite the way to make an entrance. Her triumphant smile only widened when three figures charged through the open portal, taking combat stances at the other side of the room.</p><p>“So,” she began, savoring the looks of shock on their faces, “you <em>are</em> alive after all. Welcome. I hope you’ve found Caldera City to your liking.”</p><p>“Where is he?!” her young target demanded. “Where’s the Fire Lord?”</p><p>“What, you mean after all the good times we’ve had together, I’m not <em>enough</em> for you?” Azula got to her feet, hands on hips, studiously avoiding looking at the steel support beams on the ceiling. “You’re hurting my delicate feelings.”</p><p>“Stop wasting our time and give us the information,” the scruffy Water Tribe peasant, looking every inch the barbarian warrior in his fur-lined armor, brandished a black sword at her. “You’re powerless right now, so you’re in no position to refuse!”</p><p>“Guys,” the young girl in green was looking down at the ground. “Something’s really off with her today.” She looked up at Azula. “What are you doing? Why can’t I feel your heartbeat?”</p><p>“Well, they did say I was born heartless.” Azula took a few lazy steps to the base of the throne’s dais. “But who knows, maybe your earthbending isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?”</p><p>That elicited a scowl from the blind girl, followed immediately by a dual-fisted bending strike. A wave of earth erupted around the unresisting princess, encasing her in a cone of stone coming up to her neck. Her smile didn’t waver.</p><p>“Start talking, where’s the Fire Lord?” the earthbender demanded.</p><p>“Or else what?” Azula asked. “Are you really just going to crush me to death if I don’t comply?”</p><p>The Avatar hesitated at that; an uncomfortable expression visible in his grey eyes. The water peasant beside him only grimaced.</p><p>“You’ll be asking for it if you don’t,” he growled in what was undoubtedly his best attempt to seem menacing, but to Azula just sounded painfully amateurish. He didn’t have the steely look of a true cold-blooded killer in his eyes.</p><p>“Will I now?” she glanced upwards and gave a barely perceptible nod. “But if you kill me here, you’re left right back where you started.”</p><p>“Guys, we’re not-” the airbender began, only to be cut off as a fist of solid rock struck him in the back.</p><p>Azula allowed herself a moment of satisfaction as all three of the intruders were sent flying by simultaneous earthbending strikes from behind. Six agents of the Dai Li dropped down from their hiding places amongst the steel girders, surrounding the trio. One was already moving to release the princess, while the other five were jabbing their arms in rapid strikes. A hail of the tiny bits of molded stone that made up the traitors’ gloves peppered the invaders.</p><p>The stone prison around her crumbled into dust at the agent’s gesture. Meanwhile, the Avatar was already back on his feet, swinging his staff to create an air slice that bowled two of her servants off their feet. His earthbender companion slammed down her hands into the ground and two jutting pillars of stone took two more agents right in their chins. The sword-wielder was rushing another, only for the agent to fling both of his rock gloves at the boy. They caught the peasant on both wrists, staggering him while the Dai Li man clenched his fists and pulled them together. The savage’s sword fell from his hands, earthen gloves forcing his wrists behind his back and melding into a pair of cuffs.</p><p>The Avatar’s pet earthbender had regained her feet by this point, trading blows with two men as both sent crushing waves of stone hurling from the floor. Her true target himself was charging her directly. A bit stupid really, if he were a thoughtful sort he’d realize that taking out the earthbenders first would be the wisest option. One of them thoughtfully demonstrated by sweeping his arms wide, pulling a solid wall of stone straight from the bedrock. Azula’s view of the rest of the room was temporarily blocked, before the Avatar burst through the barrier a good distance off the ground.</p><p>The princess dove to the side while a localized tornado obliterated the throne behind her. She mustered all the acrobatic training she possessed – the boy was <em>fast</em>. He was lashing out with blasts of air and rocks torn from the ground, making poor Zuzu’s little sword assault look positively sluggish by comparison. Of course, Father wasn’t here to distract her attention this time, so there was that.</p><p>Azula ducked, flipped, leapt, and pinwheeled through the air with an easy grace that made her look like a born airbender herself. Her one agent close by launched a stone disk at the Avatar’s back, who proceeded to obliterate it with one twist of a clenched fist. Her foe almost backhandedly hurled the much less agile man into a support beam with a burst of swirling wind. But the Dai Li’s valiant sacrifice had given the princess time to open up more distance, skirting around the edges of the earthen barricade.</p><p>She grimaced a little to see two of the men she’d left on this side of the wall had already fallen, a bit ahead of schedule. Azula had been hoping to stay in the throne room a while longer, but she might have to make more use of the circular passageways around it than she’d have preferred. Two of the remaining three were hurling stone cubes at the blind girl, with the third flinching back from a sword blow that tore the hat from his head.</p><p>Azula kept right on running, past the dueling earthbenders along the chamber’s side. The Avatar was still on her, flinging another broad slash at her back. The princess leapt nimbly over it, but it struck one of the Dai Li from behind. The man went sprawling, then struggled for a moment to rise before the flat of the water peasant’s blade struck the side of his head. Another of her men was down, but she couldn’t help but be amused that even now he lacked that killer instinct.</p><p>The retreating princess fled through the open portal, two remaining agents gliding on the earth to keep up with her. They hastily summoned pillars of earth to replace the fallen doors, but between the Avatar and the girl those were shattered almost as soon as they had risen. As the princess ran down the hallway directly away from Father’s true bunker, someone hurled a chunk of wall at one of the Dai Li, throwing him down. His brother agent turned, grabbing the earth to send a shockwave across the ground. Her pursuers staggered momentarily, but with one agent each left to face the Avatar and his pet earthbender, Azula had no doubts about the outcome.</p><p>The princess ignored the brief plight of her men, putting all of her focus into what came next. Running out the clock while effectively on a leash wouldn’t be easy, but there were plenty of switchbacks in the deliberately confusing underground maze. She heard a solitary pair of boots close behind, probably the useless peasant by the weight of them. It wasn’t necessary to run the trio in circles for too long, her inner fire had been gone a few minutes already. All she would have to do then was face them as a firebending master lacking all human frailties. Azula calculated the most efficient route, taking a left at the first intersection.</p><p>Then, without warning, all momentum became completely impossible. Her arms were suddenly, irresistibly yanked behind her body and Azula staggered, unable to run any further. Her smirk devolved into a snarl. What was her idiot brother <em>doing</em>?! He was supposed to be one sublevel directly above this mess, giving her a much longer tether to work-</p><p>A sword was sticking out of her chest.</p><p>Azula’s eyes widened momentarily, staring at gleaming black metal piercing straight through her black and gold armor. She froze in place, before dutifully collapsing onto her knees. Her spine bent over double, her chest all but touching her legs. She managed one last pitiful-sounding gasp that she was honestly rather proud of, combining shock with a faint hint of a whimper, before her head slumped forward onto her knees. Her body was left propped up only by the blade impaling it, held steady by a firm warrior’s grip.</p><p>“<em>Sokka?!</em>” the Avatar’s voice had always been high-pitched, but the princess couldn’t ever recall hearing it sound quite like that before. “What did you do that for?!”</p><p>“I-I didn’t mean to…” there was only a faint hint of a tremor in the water peasant’s voice. “She stopped so suddenly, I didn’t think…”</p><p>“She didn’t need to die! She may have been our enemy, but she was still a human being!” the airbender’s voice echoed in the confined space, half anger and half almost sounding sad. “You didn’t need to do that!”</p><p>“This is war, Aang,” Sokka took a deep breath, blade shaking just a little. “Sometimes there are casualties. What do you think we’re gonna do when we find the Fire Lord?”</p><p>“We’re gonna take him down and… and…” the Avatar’s voice wavered.</p><p>“And what? Tie him up? He’s supposed to be one of the strongest benders on the planet, what happens when the eclipse is over? We can’t-”</p><p>“Twinkletoes, Snoozles,” the earthbender cut in. “Deal with it <em>later</em>. We’ve only got a minute or two left and we still haven’t found the Fire Lord.”</p><p>“Toph’s right, we can’t just sit around because one of his kids has gone down, there’s still work to be done here.”</p><p>The Avatar gave a heavy sigh. “Alright…” he said in a low voice.</p><p>Azula felt the water peasant’s grip strengthening, felt the painless sensation of the sword being pulled back through what ought to have been her vital organs. She couldn’t resist the opportunity. Her limp head abruptly jerked upright, whipping back around to face her enemies.</p><p>“Boo.”</p><p>“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”</p><p>Sokka screamed, letting go of the sword and staggering back several steps with a delightfully shocked and horrified look on his face. Azula smirked as Aang and Toph alike flinched, the former taking several steps back and reflexively bringing his staff up. Eyes widened and jaws dropped as the princess rose smoothly to her feet, black blade protruding from her chest and hilt still visible sticking out of her back.</p><p>“I’m flattered that you have such concern for my well-being. Really, I am.” Azula’s smirk blossomed into a full-blown grin as she gripped the sword with both hands, heedless of the razor-sharp edge. “But I assure you,” she gave a firm tug. “There’s no need.”</p><p>In one smooth motion, Azula pulled the entirety of Sokka’s sword right through the rest of her. A torrent of blue flames erupted from her chest when the hilt burst through where her heart ought to have been. If she’d thought the trio’s expressions couldn’t get any more amusing, they chose that moment to prove her wrong.</p><p>“Y-You’re not <em>human</em>!” the disarmed Sokka managed to gasp.</p><p>“What was your first clue?” the princess asked with a raised eyebrow, twirling the smoking, well-balanced sword in one hand. Azula was no swordswoman like her brother, but she knew a fine blade when she saw one. Much too fine for a lowly Water Tribe peasant. Maybe she would keep it as a trophy.</p><p>“Wait, don’t tell me. Let me guess,” she continued. “Was it the lack of blood on your pretty little trinket here?”</p><p>“What are you?!” the Avatar demanded, taking a step forward and pointing his staff at her. “And what are you doing here?”</p><p>“Oh very well, since my secret’s out, I may as well come clean,” Azula shrugged her shoulders. “I am a jiangshi and have been since the first moment we met that day on the mountain back in the Earth Kingdom. I’m several hundred years old, and I drink the blood of virginal young maidens to maintain my girlish good looks.” She grinned broadly. “Sozin’s line took me under their wings a long time ago. I’ve served the Fire Nation under a number of different identities at this point. Princess Azula is only the latest.”</p><p>“The Fire Lord has a <em>vampire</em> on his staff?!” the water peasant now seemed to be trying to top his previous record for the most entertaining facial expression.</p><p>“That’s what I just said, genius.” She favored him with another smile. “I’m really surprised that you didn’t figure it out earlier,” the princess continued to toy with the sword. “I mean, if bright yellow and orange fire is symbolic of life, what do you think blue fire represents?”</p><p>The earthbender’s move was sudden, unexpected, and almost brutal. One quick kick brought a pair of stones from the earth, and two quick jabs sent both hurdling for Azula’s wrists. Her lightning-fast reflexes saved her, the stolen black sword carving an arc that sliced both chunks to pebbles in a single smooth motion. Fast moving debris impacted on her torso without any pain. She noted that the weapon’s edge didn’t appear even slightly dulled. A fine blade indeed.</p><p>“I was just going to play catch me if you can,” Azula half-lied, “but now that you know the truth, I’m afraid I’ll just have to see what <em>you</em> taste like.”</p><p>The princess hurled herself right at the weakest link of their group, sword singing as it thrust for the peasant’s neck. He had already drawn a small jawbone dagger, using it to push the larger blade just to the side of his neck, black sword carving a noticeable notch into the ordinary steel of its blade. Sokka ducked low as Azula made a second, clumsier chop for his head. The young warrior then spun around and drove the dagger up to its hilt into her stomach, while she made no move to defend herself.</p><p>“Really?” she looked down at him, eyebrow raised.</p><p>Before Sokka had the chance to reply, Azula was struck by a gale-force air slash from the side, sending her crashing painlessly into the nearby tunnel wall. The princess didn’t even let her grin fade. Another hunk of rock struck her left ankle, this one in the shape of a half-circle. The earth around her leg quickly fused with the stone wall itself, trapping her against the side of the tunnel. Or it would have, if the princess hadn’t unhesitatingly brought her new sword around and sliced off her foot at the ankle. The severed appendage dissolved immediately into more azure flame, flowing back onto the stump and reforming rapidly. Azula had a new foot in time to regain her balance before hitting the floor.</p><p>“How do you fight something that doesn’t stay down?!” the Water Tribe boy had drawn something that looked like a boomerang.</p><p>“Hmmm, good question.” Azula tapped two fingers on her chin. The embedded dagger slid limply out of her stomach, half cherry-red and the rest as molten driblets. “You don’t.”</p><p>This time, Azula went for the blind earthbender. With only a minute or so left in the eclipse, all she needed to do was keep these fools occupied a short while longer and then face the Avatar as a firebending master that could not be harmed. Halfway to the little girl, a pillar of rock burst from the ground directly beneath her. The attacked smashed into the princess’ chest and carried her all the way to the ceiling with a none too gentle impact. Before she could wiggle free, the Avatar raised both hands at her, unleashing an overpowering gust of wind that drove her limbs upward and onto the roof. The earthbender beside him gestured, and stone cuffs enveloped both of her wrists. A second gesture left Azula’s ankles likewise pinned.</p><p>For her part, the princess only laughed, then twisted her arms to break both her wrists. Azula pulled the mangled limbs through their stone prison, deftly caught the sword as it fell, and sliced through the bindings on her legs without a care in the world. She hit the ground with perfect poise, deflected the boomerang aimed for her head with a backswing, and lashed out at the nearby airbender. Aang dodged backwards, and Azula was struck in the chest with a head-sized rock. She hit the wall again and didn’t even pretend to care.</p><p>Azula came on relentlessly, swinging the unfamiliar weapon once again at its former master. It nicked Sokka’s exposed bicep, drawing a line of blood. He punched her in the face, she kicked him in the stomach. He staggered back while her nose neatly reformed itself. The Avatar switched styles, ripping the ground apart beneath her feet. The princess acrobatically flipped to the side to avoid the small chasm, landed on both hands, and pushed herself back upright.</p><p>It was just then that Azula felt a mighty current of pure power strike her, half pain and half sheer exhilaration. It traveled rapidly down her left arm, through the pit of her stomach, and then up through her right arm. There came the sound of an explosion from not so far away.</p><p>“Would you look at that?” she grinned as she fell into a guard stance. “The firebending’s back on.”</p><p>Blue flames arced up the black sword, wreathing the length of it in an aura of sapphire glory. She grinned even wider to see the looks on their faces, reveling in the moment where their sad little hopes turned to dust.</p><p>In an instant, Azula whirled around and flung the flaming sword directly for the earthbender’s chest. The girl’s reflexes were quick, and a short earthen barrier exploded out of the ground. The magnificent blade pierced right through it, and there was a scream from the other side.</p><p>“Toph!” the Avatar cried out.</p><p>"I was there, you know," the princess told him in a soft, cruel voice, "the day that the Air Temples burned. Do you want to know how many of your people cried out for their Avatar as they perished?"</p><p>Her prey flinched, backing up a step. "You-" he managed, right before a jet of flame just missed his head.</p><p>Azula was on her target in a heartbeat, fists wreathed in her burning glory. She struck at the Avatar with one rapid blow after another, advancing fearlessly. Blows struck her in return as she drove him back towards the ruined throne room, but she paid them no heed. He thrust at her head with his staff, she let it break her cheekbone while she grabbed for his right wrist. The would-be savior of the world cried out as his flesh was seared anew by her inferno. She whipped her other hand around, pulling him in close to shove her flaming fist right into his face – and her swing abruptly stopped in midair.</p><p>Azula blinked.</p><p>The next moment, the airbender’s burnt arm ripped free of her grip. The princess snarled and made a lunge for it, only for her arm to be pulled roughly behind her back.</p><p>“No…” she gritted her teeth, digging her heels into the ground as that all too familiar force tugged at her. “Not now!”</p><p>A gust of wind slammed into Azula’s face, sending her flying back down the tunnel. She hit the ground on her back, painlessly, but was already beginning to feel that same metaphysical tension around her wrists. The princess resisted with all her strength. She might as well have tried to pull Agni’s sun down from the sky.</p><p>“No!” Azula cried out as she began to be dragged backwards along the ground. “No! No! No! No! NO!”</p><p>She was starting to pick up speed. The distance between herself and her single best chance of regaining Father’s good graces was opening up rapidly. As she watched her prey get smaller and smaller, Azula wriggled fiercely, trying everything to fight back against the inexorable force drawing her away from her prize.</p><p>“NO!” she shrieked at them. “NO! <strong>NO!</strong>”</p><p>Azula kicked desperately, hurling last-ditch orbs of blue fire at her foes, but they had no hope of breaking through the barriers of air and earth that appeared in their path. The princess writhed uselessly as she was dragged ever faster along the stony ground. It was mere seconds more before the cruel tunnel bend swallowed up her last shred of hope, and her wrathful scream echoed throughout the whole complex.</p><p>
  <strong>“DAMN YOU ZUKO!”</strong>
</p>
<hr/><p>“What…” Aang panted, feeling the sweat rolling down his back and the ache of his scorched arm as he stared off down the tunnel. “What <em>was</em> all that?”</p><p>Beside him, Toph could only clutch at her injured side, offering a slight shrug. A few paces back, Sokka was reaching down to recover his sword.</p><p>“Okay, we’ve seen some strange and spooky things before,” he said, black blade in hand. “But that? That was just <em>weird</em>.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I do really appreciate reader feedback on this. Whether you like my work or dislike it, I want to know. Please consider leaving a comment.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The Escape</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Princess Azula was dragged, raging and thrashing, down the underground hallways of the bunker complex. It couldn’t be over, her moment of glory couldn’t be denied her. Not like this! Not because of him! <em>Zuko</em>! She literally spat fire at the thought of him. Her worthless brother had done it again. Not even content with stealing her place, now he’d ruined her last real hope of salvaging it. After all that she had done for him, after she had disobeyed Father’s instructions to restore him to his home and birthright, this was the thanks she got?! The sheer ingratitude, the utter injustice of it all made her uselessly claw at the floor even harder. The utter impotence of her rage only fueled it to new heights.</p><p>That was it, a bitter voice inside her said. It was all over now. Father would never again love her like he had before, because now she was the weak one in his eyes. She could never defeat Zuko in combat to prove herself. The Avatar would never be so foolish as to face her in close quarters again, not now that he knew of the futility of it. And there were no other deeds great enough that were left to do. Her plan to end the war for good hadn’t been enough to restore her favored status in Ozai’s eyes, what more could she offer him? She was doomed, then, to a life of perpetual mediocrity in the shadow of her brother, until the day they took their last breaths together. Zuko had his revenge after all.</p><p>No. No, she refused to believe that. She was Azula, the greatest child of the greatest Fire Lord ever to rule. Fortune had favored her since birth, her own talent, intellect, and hard work had seen her conquer the impenetrable city at a mere fourteen years of age. She would not be destroyed by a spineless, wavering idiot who happened to get lucky one day on the beach!</p><p>As she continued to be dragged, Azula rolled to one side, kicked off the wall as hard as she could, landed on her hands, and flipped back onto her feet in a single smooth motion. The princess took off running with a snarl on her face, determined to catch up with her brother and make him pay for this latest humiliating failure. Somehow. Zuko was a good runner, but Azula was almost preternaturally quick to begin with. In her current state she didn’t get tired and her feet never hurt. She didn’t even need to breathe. The result was inevitable.</p><p>The princess caught sight of her brother when they were nearing one of the hidden entrances near the surface. The prince was in far less regal clothing than she, twin swords strapped to his back, sprinting for the exit. The guards that had been posted with him were nowhere to be seen.</p><p>“What have you <em>done</em>?!” Azula screamed at him, in a louder voice than even she had intended. “I was <em>this</em> close to ending the Avatar! He’s still alive because of <em>you</em>!”</p><p>“Good,” came the sound of Zuko’s voice.</p><p>What?! Her brother was so infinitely petty, so spiteful, that he’d rather have the Fire Nation’s single most powerful enemy running free than allow her to claim the credit for his demise?! Credit that she’d graciously loaned him in the first place!</p><p>“I’m going to go join him,” her brother continued. “And you’re coming with me.”</p><p>What.</p><p>Bile rose up in Azula’s throat as the full magnitude of what he had just said occurred to her. Her brother was going to join the Avatar. Her brother was committing naked treason. Her brother was forcing <em>her</em> to commit treason.</p><p>The sheer base ingratitude of it. The unreal levels of spite. Zuko, her own brother, hated her so much that he wasn’t even content to usurp her position, he wanted her dragged through the mud so completely she was forever banished from Father’s affections, from her status at the top, from the adoring worship of the Fire Nation. He was prepared to destroy even himself just to hurt her more.</p><p>A fury unlike anything that the princess had ever felt welled up inside her, like a volcano on the very brink of eruption. The sheer white-hot power of it drove out all doubts, all fears, and all second thoughts. For just a moment, the entirety of her being was refined into a single, overriding objective: kill Zuko.</p><p>Azula stopped right where she was, arms working through an intimately familiar sequence. Yin and yang were ripped apart with a force beyond anything she’d managed before, the sheer potential crackling around her hand casting the surrounding tunnel in a bright blue glow.</p><p>“<strong>DIE!</strong>” she screamed up at him.</p><p>The lightning that erupted from Azula’s fingertips in that moment was the single most powerful bolt that she had ever unleashed, a fact she might have been proud of if the full weight of her attention hadn’t been on her brother. It lashed out, but not for him. Even in her current state the princess hadn’t forgotten what the firebending duels had taught her about the uselessness of attacking Zuko directly. But there was another way. The lightning struck the roof right over his head, all but vaporizing the overhead girder in a massive explosion. She would bring the tunnel down on right on top of his traitorous head.</p><p>Father would love her again once Zuko was dead, wouldn’t he? He would be so grateful, and she would be his only remaining good child. What choice would he have?</p><p>Azula watched, a manic grin on her face, as hundreds of tons of newly unsupported overhead rock did what they would inevitably do. The ceiling indeed buckled, and then began to collapse all around him. But not on top of him.</p><p>The princess’ eyes were wide as wide could be. She watched in mute horror as chunks of rock and molten metal came crashing down around her brother, even right beside him, all without so much as touching a hair on his messy, scarred head. They came within inches of him without contact, though he did nothing to dodge. Debris even seemed to flow around the prince like parting water, only filling up space when he had vacated it. It was as though the celling were actively waiting for him to get out of the way before coming down. Her curse ran deeper than even she knew.</p><p>Finally, her brother was out of sight, and the entire tunnel ahead of her came crashing down with tremendous force, shaking the ground at Azula’s feet and causing her to stumble. She might have breathed hard if she still needed to breathe, as it was, she just stared slack-jawed at the pile of rubble. The icy tide of shock doused the flames of anger enough that it finally occurred to her what would have happened if Zuko had been crushed to death right here. Azula had a moment to shudder before the tug on her wrists began to return, and it dawned unpleasantly on her what was going to happen next.</p><hr/><p>A much dirtier Azula caught up with Zuko again about halfway through the empty and badly battered streets of the capital, their new airships now visible high overhead. Getting strained through dozens of tons of steel and stone had given her rage time to cool from utterly incandescent to merely explosive – not enough to allow herself to forget what the actual consequences of slaying him would be.</p><p>“ZUKO!” Her voice was undimmed, thanks to a throat that could not be sore. “STOP!”</p><p>He ignored her, continuing to sprint towards the city’s outskirts around the caldera’s rim. There were no soldiers left in the evacuated capital to stop him, even if they would have been inclined to oppose their prince at all.</p><p>“Wait!” she cried out to him. “Please! You don’t have to do this!” When he still didn’t respond, she continued with more desperation in her voice than she would have liked. “Stop! I surrender! You win!” Azula bowed her head as best she could while running just behind him. “I swear I’ll serve you loyally for all eternity if that’s what you want, okay?! You don’t have to force me into treason to break me!”</p><p>“You <em>still</em> think it’s all about you,” there was a note of disdain, and something else, in Zuko’s voice. “Typical.”</p><p>“I – what are you doing?”</p><p>“I’m breaking Uncle out of prison,” he said to her as they neared the limits of the city proper. “I’m going to beg him for forgiveness. And then all three of us are leaving.”</p><p>Azula didn’t understand. Her brother acted like he didn’t even care that she had just admitted defeat, that she had sworn herself to perpetual servitude at his feet. She was as humbled as he could ever wish for, and that still wasn’t enough for him? Was he just insane then? Or simply that determined to take absolutely everything possible from her?</p><p>“You’re a prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko!” she insisted as she ran beside him. “You have everything now, even me! Whatever you’re hoping to gain from this, I’ll get it for you, I swear! Everything I have is yours. Just… just have mercy, please!”</p><p>“It’s not about me, and it’s not about you,” Zuko said, shaking his head.</p><p>“Then what?!” she demanded.</p><p>She got no reply, save the looming form of the capital city’s prison tower ahead of them. Azula was forced to watch in mute horror as Zuko went through the sequence of the cold fire even as he ran, electricity crackling around his arms. The twin steel gates were blown completely apart in a single strike – an open act of treason. That was it, then. Father would never forgive… no, there still had to be some way out of this. There <em>had</em> to be!</p><p>Her brother had his swords drawn as he ran into the prison yard, but no guards were rushing to meet them. Many of them had been conscripted to fight against the invasion, but there still ought to have been a few left over. Things became clearer as the siblings dashed through the hallways, unconscious forms of men and women in the uniform of the domestic forces scattered throughout the facility. As before, her brother knew right where to go.</p><p>“Uncle!” Zuko cried out as he threw open the door to Iroh’s cell.</p><p>Azula was right behind him, and found her eyes widening at the sight. The bars on Uncle’s cage had been torn apart. Not burned through with firebending, physically ripped asunder as if by a raging komodo rhino. She’d underestimated what the old fool was capable of. There was a man in the warden’s uniform lying sprawled out in front of the cell, currently being manhandled by Zuko.</p><p>“Where is he?” the prince demanded. “Where’s my uncle?”</p><p>“He busted himself out,” the man, clearly in shock, managed. “I’ve never seen anything like it. He was… like a one-man army.”</p><p>“Hmph,” Zuko snorted, releasing him.</p><p>A germ of a scheme was already taking shape in Azula’s mind as the two fled the prison tower, leaving the beaten guards behind and making for the slopes at the caldera’s rim.</p><p>“You don’t have to save Uncle, you see?!” she implored her brother. “He broke himself out, you were never there at all!” Intimidating the guards into silence shouldn’t be that much trouble, explaining why the lightning had destroyed the gate from the outside would be more difficult but she was sure she could come up with something. “You can go back to the palace, and no one will ever need to know! You don’t have to become a traitor for his sake, he can take care of himself!”</p><p>“You still don’t get it.”</p><p>“<em>You</em> don’t get it!” she wanted to scream. “Fate has handed you everything you could want on a silver platter! There’s nothing at all you have left to gain! Uncle is free, I’m at your disposal, and you still have Father’s favor!”</p><p>“Not after what I said to him.”</p><p>“You did <em>what</em>?!” Azula’s jaw dropped.</p><p>“I went to the Fire Lord’s chambers during the eclipse, and I told him what I’m doing, and why.”</p><p>“Zuko! You… you…” the princess struggled to find words. “You absolute <em>idiot</em>, Zuko! You could have just wished Uncle out without letting Father know!”</p><p>“That’s only part of what I’m doing today,” he said. “I told you before, I’m joining the Avatar.”</p><p>Azula clutched her head as they ran, brain struggling to process this latest insanity. None of it made any sense. Joining the Avatar after breaking Uncle free at least made an utterly demented kind of sense, in that after betraying Father so completely teaming up with the force best primed to overthrow him was halfway logical. At least if you were as stupid as Zuko and didn’t just consider forcing your unkillable sister to defeat your father in an Agni Kai and become your puppet Fire Lord before defeating her in turn. But wanting to do that anyway? With nothing to gain and everything to lose? Was his spite for her simply that strong, that even her utter surrender was not enough?</p><p>“I… I can still help you!” the princess declared as they reached the volcano’s rim, a red war balloon visible on a ledge not far below. “I can remove the memories of what you did today from everyone’s mind, I’m sure of it. You can go back to being the Crown Prince, and-”</p><p>“I’m not going to be Crown Prince of the Fire Nation,” Zuko cut her off, sliding nimbly down a rocky slope. “Not like this. Not with Father at the head of it.”</p><p>“You… you did all of this… just to spite Father?” Azula couldn’t believe it. It was so petulant, so childish, so insanely stupid that new words would have to be invented just to describe how utterly self-defeating it was. “Zuko…” her jaw set. “You treasonous dog!”</p><p>The princess threw a ball of blue fire at her brother’s feet. The flames scorched the rock around them but flowed harmlessly over his boots. With another jump and agile landing, the prince reached the ledge with the waiting balloon, climbing into the basket without delay and bending fire into the engine.</p><p>“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t set this whole contraption on fire right now!” Azula demanded, hands ablaze. “I may not be able to hurt you, but I can stop you from escaping!” A desperate idea had crept into her mind. “Unless of course you let me go before-”</p><p>“Because if Father catches me, he’s going to have me executed,” Zuko said simply, not even looking at her. “And you know what happens then.”</p><p>Azula paused.</p><p>“I hate you when you make sense.”</p><hr/><p>The scene below the two was stark. The Fire Nation’s brand-new fleet of armored airships was performing beautifully in its maiden flight, the smoking ruins of the invasion force’s strange water vehicles visible even from this height. And there, on the ground, no larger than the tiniest mites, Azula could faintly make out the pathetic invaders slowly being surrounded by their hidden reserves of men and tanks. In the distance, the distinct shape of the Avatar’s sky bison could be made out retreating over the horizon. The trap had gone splendidly, save for the hiccup underground. And yet the princess couldn’t enjoy any of it.</p><p>Azula and her brother stood in the war balloon’s spacious basket, engine thrumming merrily as they rose high above their island home. Zuko had his back to her, staring at the distant figure of the Avatar and whatever was left of his sad little band, making course corrections as necessary. Their defeated enemies were headed northeast, away from Fire Nation territory. The airships could try to follow, but the princess knew from personal experience that they were too heavy and ungainly to keep pace with the airbender’s mount. Only a smaller craft had a hope of tracking them for a meaningful amount of time. Including, unfortunately, the one that the siblings were in.</p><p>“So,” she said in a bitter tone, looking down over the wreckage-strewn battlefield. “We’re traitors now. Just in time to be on the losing side of the war.”</p><p>“That’s what Father would say,” Zuko acknowledged without looking at her.</p><p>“The thing I don’t understand is why?” Azula crossed her arms. “Why would you do it? You know the consequences.”</p><p>“I’m doing what I have to do,” he said in a quiet voice. “Nothing more.”</p><p>“Have to? You had everything that you ever wanted, and everything that was rightfully mine as a bonus! You didn’t have to do any of this!” her mouth formed a naked snarl. “You didn’t have to drag <em>me</em> into it!”</p><p>“You’re irreplaceable.” Zuko finally deigned to look at her. “Without you, Dad’s lost his best hunter, and tracking down the Avatar is that much harder.”</p><p>“True. Very true." Ordinarily Azula would have felt proud that her magnificence was so undeniable that even her jealous brother admitted it, but not this time. “So, you remove one of your enemy’s most valuable pieces from the board and force her to fight alongside you in one fell swoop. A cold and clever calculation, Zuzu. I didn’t think you had it in you.”</p><p>“You’d be surprised by what I have in me.”</p><p>“I’m coming to see as much.” Azula leaned back against the basket. “There’s just one little problem with your oh so cunning plan.”</p><p>“And what’s that?”</p><p>“Your side <strong>lost</strong>!” she exploded at him with hands curled into fists. “The war is over, Zuko! It doesn’t matter that you’re leaving! It doesn’t matter that Uncle escaped! It doesn’t even matter that <em>I’m</em> gone!” That was painful to admit, but pride had to bend before practicality. “There’s no force left in the world strong enough to stand up to even one of our armies in the field! So what if you join the Avatar?! He can do nothing but hide and watch as the comet returns, and Father burns the Earth Kingdom to the ground! Maybe he’ll come out that day to get torched as well, maybe not. It doesn’t matter!”</p><p>“Maybe you’re right,” Zuko sighed heavily. “Maybe it is too late.” His expression hardened. “But I’ve still got to try.”</p><p>“Why?!” Azula clutched her head, pulling at the roots of her hair. “For Agni’s sake, Zuko, <em>why</em>?!”</p><p>“For the world,” Zuko said firmly. “For the people.”</p><p>“People?” Azula blinked. “What people?”</p><p>“You’re supposed to be the smart one. Why don’t you tell me?”</p><p>Azula cast her mind back, reviewing all that had transpired since she and her brother had returned home from Ba Sing Se. His weeks of brooding, his uncertainties, his fears, and… his softhearted idiocy. She remembered the night before. Then she remembered the fateful war council three years prior. And everything clicked neatly into place.</p><p>“Peasants,” the princess said softly, contempt dripping from her every word. “You’re ruining what’s left of <em>my</em> life for <strong><em>dirt peasants</em></strong>?!”</p><p>Though she voiced the conclusion, even was confident in it on some level, Azula didn’t understand it. How was it possible that even a feebleminded dolt like her brother could be this mad? Fear of Father if absolutely nothing else ought to have kept him in line, fear was always reliable.</p><p>“I’m doing it for them,” her brother acknowledged. “But not just for them. I’m doing it for the Fire Nation as well.”</p><p>“For the Fire Nation?!” she actually managed a mirthless laugh. “You can’t really believe that. You can’t expect me to believe that. You’re <em>betraying</em> the Fire Nation!”</p><p>“The Fire Nation was betrayed a long time ago, by our family,” Zuko looked down. “We used to be a people of honor, now look at us.”</p><p>“Yes, look at our magnificence,” Azula gestured to the mighty airships slowly coming around. “We’re the conquerors of the world, now the conquerors of the skies. Our nation is the wealthiest, the most powerful, most advanced that the world has ever seen! We’ve humbled every rival and broken the last hope they had to defeat us! Look down there.” The princess pointed. “Our troops are rounding up the last of the savages right this minute, securing our final victory. A victory you and I could have been part of.” She glared at him. “A victory we <em>should</em> have been part of.”</p><p>“Savages? You call them savages?! We’re the ones plotting to burn hundreds of thousands of children alive in their beds!” Zuko half-shouted. “<em>We’re</em> the savages! They hate us, and we deserve it!”</p><p>“Who cares what they think?” Azula retorted. “They’re nothing next to us. Does a mongoose dragon concern itself with the opinions of a koala sheep? They’re there for us to rule. Besides, only we can bring out whatever crude potential they may have. By any objective metric we’re doing them a favor by bringing them under our domain.”</p><p>“And that’s exactly my point,” her brother looked down again. “We’ve been taught to think that way for a century now. We’ve destroyed so much of what was great about our culture to fuel the war.” His eyes wandered over the island far below. “What’s all the wealth and power and glory in the world, if we’ve lost everything good in ourselves along the way?”</p><p>“All the wealth and power and glory in the world, duh,” this was childishly simple. “That’s enough for me. It ought to have been enough for you.”</p><p>“It’s not.”</p><p>“Then you’re an idiot and insane, in addition to being a traitor.”</p><p>“I’m not a traitor. I want what’s best for the Fire Nation. I want us to have honor again.”</p><p>“Honor in the eyes of dirt peasants and polar savages?” Azula snorted. “You want us to lower ourselves to their level, because they’re too inferior to rise to ours? When will you realize that they don’t matter to people like us, any more than a spider fly caught in its own web? We’re <em>above</em> them. If by their sacrifice we can bring glory and prosperity to ourselves and the Fire Nation, then they ought to be honored to die for us. Just as an animal should be honored to die for our dinner.”</p><p>“They’re not animals, Azula! They’re <em>people</em>!”</p><p>“Barely.”</p><p>“You want to know why you’re really here? <em>That’s</em> why.”   </p><p>“And what is that supposed to mean?” she frowned.</p><p>“I was thinking about letting you go, you know,” Zuko said, his eyes narrowing. “Making a wish for something useful and using the last one to free you before I left.”</p><p>That only deepened Azula’s frown. “And you didn’t because?”</p><p>“Because of what you said yesterday,” her brother’s expression was firm again. “The way you were prepared to throw away millions of lives without a second thought, just to make yourself look good. That’s when I knew that you had to be stopped, just as much as the Fire Lord.”</p><p>“And forcing me to join you in your suicidal quest was the easiest way to do it.”</p><p>“No,” he shook his head. “The easiest way would have been to wish you back into that lantern, in a place where it would never be found again. This was just the best way.”</p><p>“And why is that?”</p><p>“Because it gets you away from Dad. Three years free from him was the best thing that he ever did for me. I saw the world as it actually is, not as our propaganda says it is. Maybe you’ll learn something too.”</p><p>“You brought me along hoping that I’ll become a traitor like you?!” Azula’s laughter was cold and bitter. “Zuzu, if you think just because you can force me to accompany you in your treason, you’ll win me over to it, you’re in for a rude awakening.” She crossed her arms. “I’m not <em>weak</em> inside like you are, heart going to mush with every whining sob story. I know where my loyalties lie.”</p><p>“Have you ever asked yourself why that is? Why are you loyal to a man who isn’t loyal to anything but himself?”</p><p>“He’s my father, my teacher, my Fire Lord, and the most powerful firebender on the planet. He sired me, he raised me, he taught me all I know. He made me strong and clever. Why wouldn’t I be loyal to him?”</p><p>“Because Dad doesn’t care about you any more than he does about me. He tried to kill me the instant he could for speaking my mind to him earlier today – I’m sure you felt it when the lightning struck.”</p><p>Azula gave a reluctant nod.</p><p>“Do you think he would have done any different for you?” Zuko put a hand on his chest. “If he knew that killing me would kill you too, would that have made him hesitate at all?”</p><p>“I wouldn’t have invaded his chambers to spout treasonous drivel at him in the first place, so your first question is irrelevant. As to the second, don’t be stupid, of course it would,” she said testily. “Father wouldn’t waste his prodigy like that. Not his only legitimate daughter.”</p><p>“You mean like how he wouldn’t waste millions of lives and most of a continent to get rid of a few thousand rebels?” He snorted. “Just last night he was ready to practically exile you from the Fire Nation the moment he thought I would be more useful to him.” Zuko pointed at her. “Face it, he doesn’t care about <em>you</em> at all. You’re nothing but a tool to him, just like everyone and everything else.”</p><p>“If I’m a tool, at least I’m a useful and valuable one,” Azula ignored the ache the memory of last night’s dinner evoked in her chest. “What good have you ever been?”</p><p>“Not enough,” Zuko said softly. “Not nearly enough.” His expression hardened. “And that’s why I have to do this. I can’t undo what I’ve done, but I can do everything possible to make things right.”</p><p>“They were about to be, before your mind-numbing idiocy ruined it for both of us.”</p><p>“Think what you want,” he turned away from her. “But you’re not getting out of this.”</p><p>“If I won’t come as a good little penitent, I’ll come as your prisoner, is that it?”</p><p>“If you don’t give me another choice to keep you from doing more damage? Yes.”</p><p>Azula turned away, a deep scowl set on her face.</p><hr/><p>The war balloon had been in the sky for several hours at this point, and the sun was beginning to set. The Avatar’s bison was but a distant speck in the sky by now and come nightfall they would undoubtedly lose sight of it altogether. But that was alright, Zuko had already figured out where they were headed based on their direction and his own travels – the Western Air Temple. It was unoccupied, far from the nearest Fire Nation military forces, and doubtless familiar to the Avatar. He knew well enough how to get there after his previous trips, and the wind was carrying them in the right direction.</p><p>For his own part, the prince was exhausted. It had been one of the most draining days, physically and emotionally, that he could ever recall having. At the start of it he was the Crown Prince and new favorite of his father, by the end he was a traitor and undoubtedly wanted dead sooner rather than later. Zuko felt, after all that stress, that he deserved a good night’s sleep. He had his bedroll out, some soft cloth to serve as a pillow, and was ready to close his eyes for a little while.</p><p>There was just one little problem.</p><p>“Hey Zuko,” came a voice from the edge of the balloon’s basket. “Zuko? Zuko? Zukooo?” it went right on. “Zuko? Hey, Zuko? Zuko? Zuko? Oh Zuuuuko?”</p><p>Zuko had already wrapped whatever spare cloth he could find around his ears, and it was still coming through loud and clear. And it kept coming. And kept coming. And kept coming. And just kept coming.</p><p>“<em>What?!</em>” he finally snapped, several minutes later.</p><p>“Nothing,” said Azula, perched impossibly on the very rim of the basket and completely unconcerned by the tremendous height. She was looking disinterestedly at her long, sharpened fingernails.</p><p>Zuko grumbled, pulling the cloth even tighter around his ears and pressing both hands up against them.</p><p>“Zuko?” the voice was back, undiminished. “Zuko? Oh Zuko? Little Zuzu? Zuko? Zuko? Zuuuukoooo?”</p><p>It was going to be a long night.</p><hr/><p>“Rise and shiiiiine,” came a singsong voice several hours later. “We wouldn’t want your first official day as a full-blown traitor to be off to a late start.”</p><p>“Huh?” Zuko groaned a bit, blinking his bleary eyes – then jumped at the sight of his sister’s smirking face about half an inch from his own. “Gah!” He scooted rapidly backwards on all fours until he hit the side of the basket, shaking his head a bit.</p><p>“Good morning, brother dearest,” Azula had risen to her feet as the world came into focus around her. “Take a breath of that fresh, clean air and savor the moment. The sun is shining, the reptile-birds are singing, and Father is hunting you down to put your traitorous head on the nearest pike.” She sat on the edge of the balloon’s basket, crossing her legs.</p><p>“Thanks for reminding me,” Zuko hoisted himself to his feet and yawned before looking around. “Where…” he did a double take, rubbed his eyes, and checked again. “Where are we?” he demanded.</p><p>“Oh, I’d say about a hundred miles off course, give or take,” Azula answered, looking out at the forest clearing the balloon had landed in. “Judging from the direction we were headed it seemed like your would-be friends were headed for the old Western Air Temple, but I thought the northern Earth Kingdom sounded nicer this time of year.” She flashed a winning smile. “You know, really take in that crisp mountain air.”</p><p>“Azula…” Zuko moaned, head in hands. “What did you do?!”</p><p>“Well, first I noticed that you have to sleep, and I don’t,” she said, tapping one finger on her chin. “Second, while I can’t just kill you in your sleep like you deserve, there’s certainly nothing in my condition that keeps me from steering your little getaway transport wherever I please.” She crossed her arms and smirked. “Thirdly, I didn’t feel the rather faded red of this balloon was fit for royalty. So, I burned it.”</p><p>Azula gestured to the top of the basket, which was now attached to absolutely nothing, and then to a pile of cinders sprawled out across the forest floor. Her brother stared in silence with wide eyes and a horrified expression.</p><p>“Honestly, Zuzu,” the princess raised an eyebrow. “What <em>were</em> you expecting?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. The Forest</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Why?” Zuko demanded. “Why would you do that?!”        </p><p>“Isn’t it obvious?” Azula rolled her eyes. “I’m a loyal daughter, Zuzu. And I’m not an idiot. I don’t want the Avatar to gain any advantages, and I certainly don’t want to be dragged into his little group and get incinerated with them. You may have forced me into accompanying your treason, but I’m no traitor inside.”</p><p>“You can’t stop me from getting there,” he growled.</p><p>“Oh no?” the princess opened her hands wide. “Look around you. You’re in the middle of nowhere, with no clear directions or obvious landmarks. There are no clear roads for miles in any direction, and I’m hardly telling you which one. You could be stuck out here for weeks before you figure out where you even are, much less how to get from here to where you want to be. And that’s <em>without</em> a sleepless accompaniment with every reason to spend her entire night laying down every misleading sign she can. Don’t forget, you’re on a time limit.” Azula smirked. “Who even knows how long the Avatar will remain at the Western Air Temple? But you certainly know how long it will be before Sozin’s Comet is here, and your little treasonous misadventure is all for naught. You have to hurry, little Zuzu.”</p><p>Her brother put his hands on his forehead, turning his back on Azula and groaning.</p><p>“Even in chains I can do so very much to hinder your progress,” she mused. “For instance, you’ll need to cross water to reach the island where the temple is located. Wouldn’t it be a shame if someone set any boat you could find on fire? Or burnt out a bridge? Saw a path out of this forest and didn’t mention it? Obscured a trail, or planted a false one? Each little delay is one moment closer to the comet and the final annihilation of our opposition. Can you really afford any of that?” The princess shrugged. “I doubt it. But that’s what might well happen,” she paused as if in thought, tapping one finger on her chin. “Unless…”</p><p>Zuko turned around and looked her up and down. “What do you want?”</p><p>“What do you <em>think</em> I want, dumdum?” the princess hopped off the basket’s edge, putting her hands on her hips. “I want you to wish me back into a human, just as I was before. Then you’re free to scurry on off and join the Avatar and the rest of them in whatever hole they’re hiding in. But if you don’t…” she glanced at the nails of one hand. “Well, I can hardly guarantee you’ll even be able to make it there at all.”</p><p>“If I did that, you’d try and kill me the moment you were free of your bonds, then bring my body back to the Fire Lord to try and prove your loyalty,” Zuko leaned against the basket and crossed his own arms. “What kind of idiot do you take me for?”</p><p>“The kind who spurns his family and his country in the very hour of their total triumph in the name of dirt peasantry, who thinks dragging his wiser and much more powerful sister around as a prisoner is a good idea.” Azula shrugged. “And besides, even you should be able to see that that problem is hardly insurmountable. Just wish for me to be a human somewhere else. That way you’re free of me and I’m free of you.”</p><p>“Until you come hunting me for revenge, to try and get Dad to take you back,” Zuko stood up to his full height, looking down on his little sister. “I’m not taking your deal,” he pointed at her, “but you’re going to take mine.”</p><p>“Oh really?” Azula raised an eyebrow. “And what do you have to force my compliance? Are you going to take my freedom from me? Steal me away from my home? Shame me as a traitor and failure in front of my father?” she laughed bitterly. “Or maybe you’d like to try your luck making a wish?”</p><p>“You’re going to come with me quietly. I’m not going to try and make you help me on this, but you’re not going to sabotage me either. Until this is over, you’re a prisoner of war and you’re going to behave.”</p><p>The princess leaned confidently back against the basket. “Or else what?”</p><p>“Or else I’m going to wish you somewhere far away-”</p><p>“Ha!” she chuckled mirthlessly. “You’re going to give me exactly what I want?”</p><p>“As a permanent nonbender,” he finished.</p><p>If Azula had had a functioning heart at that moment, it would have skipped a beat. As it was, her eyes shot wide and she couldn’t restrain a small gasp. The very idea of it… of being wretchedly <em>ordinary</em> for the remainder of her life… Even if she could convince Father not to immolate her for her involuntary treason, there could be no question of what would happen next. A Fire Nation princess without bending would be a source of disgrace and embarrassment to the Royal Family. She would undoubtedly be disowned and ignored under the very best of circumstances, shuffled off to some remote province where her father would never have to think about her again. The thought of that, of spending the rest of a miserable life as a discarded mediocrity was… it was…</p><p>There was a yawning void that arose inside Azula at the very idea, an utter negation of everything she had built her life around. She was special, she was a prodigy, she was feared and worshipped by the people, she was Fire Lord Ozai’s favorite child and true heir. Almost all of that had already ceased to be true, if the last threads of her identity slipped away with her bending prowess… then what <em>was</em> she anymore? Nothing at all. She went pale considering the ramifications of that for even a few seconds. She dared not think about it any longer.</p><p>“You wouldn’t do that to your own family,” she said, shaking herself from her stunned reverie and looking up at Zuko. “You don’t have the nerve.”</p><p>The two siblings locked eyes for what must have been the ten thousandth time in their short lives. But unlike what had happened so many times before, Zuko met his sister’s gaze without flinching. He didn’t say anything as the two stared each other down, but then he didn’t need to.</p><p>“You <em>would</em>…” Azula breathed, the last of the color draining from her face.</p><p>“The fate of the world is more important than your pride, Azula,” Zuko’s voice was firm with conviction. “It’s more important than all of our family.”</p><p>“So, you really are the worst kind of traitor,” she hissed, narrowing her eyes.</p><p>“That’s what our father would say,” he acknowledged.</p><p>The gears in Azula’s mind were already turning at a feverish pace, looking over the situation from one angle and then another, desperately searching for another way out. If Zuko hadn’t used the word “permanent”, she might have considered trying her luck with letting him wish and simply making herself a nonbender for just a handful of seconds. But for once he’d happened upon a half-decent idea, and the more she mulled it over the more inevitable the conclusion appeared.</p><p>A life stripped of her bending was no life at all, merely a hollowed-out shell, a mockery of all that she was and aspired to be. And the simple fact of the matter was, whatever the limitations of a djinni’s power, she was completely sure that it was entirely within her current capabilities to strip herself of what made her special. It was a wish she would have no choice but to grant, if Zuzu made it. He had but to say the words, and the last shreds of her exalted status would be gone. Meanwhile, she couldn’t even cover his mouth to try and stop it. There was slim hope of regaining what was rightfully hers if she submitted to him here – but absolutely none if she defied him. She hadn’t thought he had it in him.</p><p>“Very well…” she forced the bitter words through clenched teeth, giving a stiff bow at the waist. “I consent to be your prisoner throughout the war, to follow you quietly and refrain from further sabotage,” she looked up. “On one condition.”</p><p>“And what’s that?” her brother asked.</p><p>“That when all this is done, <em>one way or another</em>, you’ll use a wish to return me to my human self, just as I was before.” Azula demanded. “Bending and all. No matter if you win or lose.”</p><p>She waited for her brother to call her bluff. He had all the leverage in this situation and every reason to want her to go down with him when he inevitably lost. There was no possible way he would be stupid enough to-</p><p>“Fine,” he said after a second’s consideration. “I’ll do it.”</p><p>Azula stood corrected.</p><p>“Swear on your honor,” she managed, rather quickly.</p><p>“I swear on my honor,” he nodded, and Azula scrutinized him.</p><p>She couldn’t see any of the usual signs of dishonesty that she had learned to pick out on his face. But that didn’t make sense. He was finally showing signs of intellect, using her fears to control her. Why would he suddenly revert to his usual idiocy just because she asked?</p><p>Maybe it was a carrot to the stick? Give her a perception of something more to lose, something he could threaten to take away at any time if she proved rebellious? The unspoken threat of the potential loss of a promised reward was a potent weapon in its own right. In any case, she had little option but to go along with it for now.</p><p>“Very well then,” Azula gave a somewhat more gracious bow. “I accept your terms.” She straightened up. “Lead on then, oh glorious and exalted Prince.”</p><hr/><p>Hours passed in relative calm, Prince Zuko leading the way through the pathless forest with a pack strung around his back. For lack of better direction, he’d used the sun to determine which way was west and moved that way. The coast was to the west, and beyond that the large island holding the Western Air Temple. If he found the sea, he might have a better idea of exactly where they were.</p><p>Behind him came Azula. Still dressed in her regal clothing and armor, she looked out of place roughing it in the woods, the sour expression on her face only adding to it. Her fine boots crushed anything unfortunate enough to be small and in her path, and more than once she chose to burn an obstacle to cinders rather than go around. Zuko caught her eyes on him several times as they walked, though she looked away whenever he glanced back.</p><p>“How did you do it?” his sister asked out of the blue.</p><p>“How did I do what?” Zuko glanced at her.</p><p>“How did you lose your fear of Father?”</p><p>“What makes you think I did?”</p><p>“Don’t play dumb, Zuzu,” Azula said. “Father is the world’s most powerful man, supreme in bending and in political power. You would have to be a complete fool to defy him, even more so to his face. Even you aren’t foolish enough to forget the lesson that he taught on <em>your</em> face. But you still stood and rejected him to his face.”</p><p>Zuko didn’t look at her, just continuing to walk between the trees. His sister was never far behind.</p><p>“Did you think I could protect you, is that it? Do you feel safer with your sister as your highly-motivated bodyguard?”</p><p>“You tried to kill me,” he replied. “Yesterday.”</p><p>“A… flash of emotion, nothing more,” she quickly came back. “I assure you that in ordinary circumstances I have no wish for you to die. Otherwise I would have torched your balloon earlier and let us both get caught and executed.” Azula shook her head. “But that’s beside the point. I want to know how you overcame your fear of Father.”</p><p>“Why?” Zuko asked. “Because you can’t?”</p><p>The sound of Azula’s footsteps briefly stopped, before resuming at a redoubled pace. Soon the princess was directly beside him.</p><p>“But if all of it was explainable by you having me in your pocket, you would have taken me to face Father, not done it alone without my knowledge,” she mused aloud. “I couldn’t help you from where I was. So, you had to have something else that surpassed your fear of your Fire Lord.”</p><p>“And the people person is having a hard time figuring it out?”</p><p>“Fear is the most reliable way to secure obedience,” Azula said simply. “Perhaps even the only reliable way. You proved that yourself, today.”</p><p>“With you.”</p><p>“Yes,” she sounded bitter. “But you got rid of yours somehow, and I need to know how and why.”</p><p>“Thinking about standing up to me?”</p><p>“I wouldn’t <em>dream</em> of it, brother dear.”</p><p>“If you really believe the things you say you do, maybe you should,” Zuko eyed her. “But you want to know? I’ve already said it: there are people who need protecting and a world that’s out of balance. Someone needs to do something, and if not me, then who?”</p><p>“The dirt peasants are just an excuse,” Azula declared immediately. “You’ve always been softhearted and muddle-brained, but before you at least had a vestige of sense. You let your idiocy get the best of you for a moment three years ago, but when push came to shove you cowered before Father. I was there, I saw you sobbing and bowing down with my own eyes. So, what are you <em>really</em> after, Zuzu?”</p><p>“You still don’t get it,” he shook his head.</p><p>“Is it revenge you’re seeking?” Azula asked. “Out to humiliate Father as he humiliated you? Looking to put a scar on <em>his</em> face?” She looked at him. “Without it, the two of you would look so much alike.”</p><p>“Don’t remind me. And no.”</p><p>“Would forcing me to join you in overthrowing Father in a palace coup not be enough? Do you need to destroy his dream of empire to break him adequately? Or was your revenge on me not complete to your satisfaction? Did you feel the need to make me join your treason to shred whatever was left of Father’s affection for me?”</p><p>“He never had any to begin with. For either of us,” Zuko shook his head. “And again, no. It’s not about revenge at all. I’ve already told you why I’m doing it.”</p><p>“And I’ve told you that that makes no sense. Fear is so much stronger than softhearted mewling, you proved that yourself in your Agni Kai. To lose your fear, you must have some ulterior motive. I just can’t figure out what it is!” Azula visibly fumed. “You were on top of the world only yesterday, and you threw it all away. Revenge is the only thing I can think of that you could be seeking that you couldn’t have gotten effortlessly from that position, but you keep insisting that’s not it.”</p><p>“Why would you even want to know if I did have some imaginary secret reason?”</p><p>“Because if I know what it is you really want then I could go and get it for you, dumdum. And once I took care of that, I could work on a plan to get us back into Father’s good graces.”</p><p>“That’s not going to happen. Ever.”</p><p>“Maybe not if was just you, but I’m sure <em>I</em> can think of something.”</p><p>“Good luck.”</p><p>“I was born lucky,” she said with the utmost confidence. “Just tell me, what’s your secret? Your hidden desire?”</p><p>“It’s not a secret. I want a new era for the Fire Nation, and the world. An era of peace and kindness.”</p><p>“The <em>truth</em>, Zuko,” Azula’s voice lowered a pitch.</p><p>“That is the truth,” he shook his head. “Why are you convinced there has to be something more?”</p><p>“Because kindness is weakness,” Azula hissed. “There’s no way a mind could be so weak as to be ensnared by it and yet so strong as to confront the most powerful man alive with no backup in the heart of his own stronghold, then voluntarily make an enemy of the mightiest nation on earth.”</p><p>“Ensnared by kindness?” Zuko raised his one eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”</p><p>“It’s a trap laid down by the weak to protect themselves from those above them, to chain the great down to their inferiors. Only a weak-minded idiot would fall for it.” Her brows were knit. “But no mind that weak could possibly stand before Father alone and not crumble, it doesn’t make sense!”</p><p>“Uncle is kind, and he’s a master firebender,” Zuko reminded her. “Better than you.”</p><p>“There’s more to strength than just potential.” Azula shook her head. “You need the will to use it. Uncle is a weak-minded dotard who crumbled at the death of his son, who let his throne get stolen in front of his very eyes, who could never stand up to Father! I saw him the day of your Agni Kai, cowering away as Father punished your weakness.” She practically spat the words. “Uncle could have challenged Father right there, you know. Could have defended you, but did he? No. And why? Because he’s too weak. Too soft to fight a real opponent. Now he’s fled Father again to who knows where.”</p><p>“<em>Don’t</em>,” he narrowed his eyes at her, “say another word against Uncle.”</p><p>“I…” she looked at him, then bowed her head. “As you wish.”</p><p>The two continued their trek through the underbrush, torching a path through a sprawling mass of angry red thorns, black smoke wafting up through the greenery.</p><p>“I think I get it,” Zuko said, after a spell.</p><p>“Get what?”</p><p>“Fear of Dad controls you, doesn’t it?”</p><p>His sister did not reply.</p><p>“Fear of his disapproval, of his rejection, of what he might do if you fall short,” the prince shook his head. “Fear of being treated like I was.”</p><p>There was still no answer.</p><p>“I can relate,” he said softly. “Believe me, I can. Three years of my life I spent obsessing over how to please him, how to get him to love me again. I wanted nothing more than to make him happy with me, and I was more afraid of him being angry with me than of freezing to death at the north pole.”</p><p>“The weak gravitate towards the strong, to fill their meaningless lives with purpose and authority,” Azula said, almost by rote. “That’s the natural order.”</p><p>“Is… Is that what he taught you?” Zuko’s voice wavered. “Azula… that’s horrible. I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Sorry for what? For me being taught the truth of the world?” she crossed her arms. “For being made stronger, better, more fit to rule our nation?”</p><p>“Azula, you may think he’s been teaching you strength, but he’s only been breaking you. You’re just a tool to him, and everything he’s ever done is to make you more useful to him.”</p><p>“He’s been teaching me purpose and power, giving me the means to achieve all that I desire. Giving me control over the weak.”</p><p>“The weak?” Zuko looked at her. “You mean like you?”</p><p>Azula’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “What?”</p><p>“You may not like it, but you need to hear it,” Zuko said, ignoring the long-ingrained impulse to flinch away from her glare. “You’re controlled by your fear of him. He’s been making <em>you</em> weak, just so he can be stronger.”</p><p>There was silence for a time as the two stared one another down. The soft rustle of leaves and the call of distant birds could be heard, but neither had ears for it.</p><p>“Agni Kai,” Azula hissed.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“You heard me,” she dropped into a fighting stance. “You’ve insulted my honor. I challenge you to an Agni Kai. Right here. Right now. Release me, and we’ll see who the weak one really is.”</p><p>“No thanks,” Zuko turned his back on her and walked away. “I’ve got more important things to do.”</p><p>“Coward!” she shouted at him. “You think you’re brave enough to talk down to me, but you’ll only do it when I’m chained to you!”</p><p>Zuko kept walking. “You said it yourself, I’m defying the Fire Lord and the whole Fire Nation at the peak of their power. I didn’t need to. Is that what a coward does?”</p><p>“Even your defiance is born from your weakness!” Azula hurried to catch up with her brother. “You’re such a softhearted imbecile that you’d turn away from everything you could ever want to spare the meaningless lives of peasants!”</p><p>“First there has to be an ulterior motive, now I’m just soft and stupid?” Zuko shook his head. “You’re contradicting yourself. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.”</p><p>“I am, it’s just that you…” Azula ground her teeth. “Don’t make any Agni-damned sense!”</p><p>“Am I strong or am I weak in your eyes? Make up your mind, Azula.”</p><p>“…I don’t know,” she eventually admitted.</p><p>“I think you do,” he told her.</p><p>Azula always lied, after all. Maybe even to herself.</p><hr/><p>It was a good few hours after sunset when the two set up camp near a stream. Getting a fire going was of course no difficulty, and then Azula had the distinct displeasure of watching her brother field dress a wild quail goose that had been unfortunate enough to encounter them. He’d apparently acquired the distinctly un-princely skill sometime during his first exile. Alongside some amateur proficiency as a cook, as evidenced by the way he threw together some of the meat, some handful of herbs and spices from his pack, and a few dried tomato carrots into a small clay pot filled with boiling water from the nearby stream.</p><p>The scent coming from the pot was hardly Azula’s idea of appetizing, but then it wasn’t like she had felt any hunger for weeks either. She idly wondered if she would ever forget what it was like to have physical needs, and then quickly decided that she would regain her humanity long before that became an issue. Zuko stirred in silence for a time, before eventually pulling out two common clay bowls thoroughly unbefitting of royalty. He poured some of his broth into both, then strode around the campfire and held one out to her.</p><p>“There’s no need,” the princess said, pushing the proffered steaming bowl away. “I don’t require nourishment any more than I require rest.” Azula didn’t know if unnecessarily consuming finite resources counted as sabotage in Zuko’s eyes, but she wasn’t eager to find out. “Or air, for that matter. You could just shove me in a box if you wanted,” she smiled sardonically. “I’ll keep.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t do that.”</p><p>“Well of course not, dragging a box around the forest is too impractical, but if we stow away on a boat or airship for any length of time that may be an option.”</p><p>Zuko sighed. “You said you don’t need to eat, but you were eating while we were back at the palace. Can you still taste things?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Then here,” her brother pushed the bowl into her hands. “You might like it, it’s hot like the food back home. I brought plenty of spices this time.”</p><p>Azula accepted the bowl and wondered what his angle was. He’d already secured unquestionable dominion over her with fear of losing her last thread of identity and the hope of eventual freedom, there was no need and no real point in wasting finite food on her now that he had it. Zuko was fishing through his pack again, and after a moment tossed her a small cloth-wrapped package.</p><p>“Here,” he said. “I only have a few more like it, so make them last.”</p><p>“Dried cherries?” Azula raised an eyebrow when she unwrapped the cloth. “You hate cherries.”</p><p>“You don’t,” Zuko said, as if that explained anything.</p><p>Azula felt something strange in her chest, and she didn’t quite know why.</p><p>The siblings ate in silence, fire crackling merrily between them. The stew was, to Azula’s refined palate, rather pedestrian and under-spiced, but it at least beat the trail rations she’d been eating during her own hunt for the Avatar. The cherries were nice enough, albeit inferior to the fresh ones she’d enjoyed back at the palace.</p><p>Azula chewed on a piece of dried fruit and tried to make sense of it. What was the point of feeding someone who didn’t require feeding, who needed no further threats or promises of reward to motivate her, when you had only so much to go around? Zuko had proven intelligent enough to intimidate her into submission and ignore her efforts to do it to him, so it couldn’t even be his usual stupidity. It was so galling to even consider. One moment her brother seemed so strong and commanding, almost like Father, the next he was spouting words as weak as those of her useless old fuddy duddy Uncle with no clear ulterior motive. How was that possible? She didn’t understand what was going through her brother’s head, and what she didn’t understand irritated her.</p><p>Well, whatever he said and whatever else had happened today, Zuko had proven that he was as willing to rule by fear as she was. That deep down, he was no different than her, merely less talented and cunning. He had proven he had never <em>deserved</em> all of Mother’s affection.</p><p>Azula blinked. Where had that thought come from?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.</p><p>Merry Christmas, everybody!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Through the Trees</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>At the deepest hours of midnight, Princess Azula paced softly around the edges of the dying firelight, a deep frown etched onto her sleepless face.</p><p>Her brother lay sprawled out on a bedroll, head resting on soft cloth not far from the flickering embers, oblivious to her glares. For all that he said that she was obliged only to be a quiet prisoner for the remainder of the war, Azula was no fool. The very nature of her current existence obliged her to defend Zuko as she would her own life, the death sentence doubtless passed on his head meant allowing him to fall into the hands of the Fire Nation was suicide. She watched over him as he slept because she had no other choice, and in the meantime, she simply paced and thought.</p><p>After hours of ceaseless consideration, it was not possible to deny the obvious any longer. Zuko had somehow grown so much stronger over the preceding weeks, and he had done it right under her nose. That softheaded boy who craved nothing more than his father’s approval, whom she had so easily ensnared beneath Ba Sing Se, was gone. He had been replaced by something far more formidable. Her old brother could be blinded by honeyed lies and goaded with his fear of disgrace. This new brother commanded <em>her</em> through fear. She knew perfectly well that he had an unfair advantage, but it didn’t help her. When Azula recalled meeting Zuko’s golden eyes – eyes that suddenly reminded her so much of Father’s – as he threatened her with a life stripped of meaning, she could still feel a chill inside. The simpering Zuzu of yesteryear would never have had the inner strength to demand her obedience so ruthlessly, curse or no curse. Of course, in doing so he had inadvertently proven the very point the old Zuzu would have been so loathe to admit.</p><p>Trust was for fools. Fear was the only reliable way. Father had taught her that lesson by his words, but even more importantly by his deeds. Through fear, of punishment and of shame, he maintained absolute rule of the Fire Nation. And more than that, rule even of Azula herself. Zuko had been right about one thing, she was afraid of the Fire Lord. Not just of her father’s wrath, but perhaps even more afraid of his disdain. But that didn’t make her weak, contrary to her brother’s ridiculous claims, it made her rational. Father was the strongest and most gifted of all, and therefore his opinion was the most valuable. That was why it didn’t matter that her mother had thought her a monster. Ursa had been weak and her opinion was thusly inconsequential. Ozai had thought – until recently – that she was valuable, worthy of his love, and so she simply was. One day he would pass his torch to her, she would be Fire Lord, and then she would need no one’s good opinion save her own. Those sureties had been the bedrock of the princess’ worldview for many years.</p><p>But now there was a paradox intruding upon her mind, threatening old certainties and demanding that her prodigious intellect resolve it. Zuko was acting as if he were kind, and kindness was a weakness to be ruthlessly exploited. Ordinarily, she would simply have done so and moved on. The problem was that he had defied Father and the might of the Fire Nation in the name of that supposed kindness. He had done the exact thing she would never dare to do, and if she took him at his word then the very strength to do so had come from kindness. Dismissing it as simple stupidity was untenable, she knew her brother’s special brand of idiocy well enough and it didn’t involve the kind of ruthless resolve necessary to effectively threaten her, or to ignore her challenge to an honor duel. If taken at face value then, strength of will beyond even her own flowed from weakness, and <em>kindness was stronger than fear</em>.</p><p>And that was impossible.</p><p>And so, Azula could not take Zuko at his word. Because if she did, if her brother was truly both kind and stronger inside than her, then everything she believed in was a lie. If cruelty was not strength, if fear was inferior to simple kindness, then Azula was nothing more than a weak <em>monster</em> who had – no, there was no need to consider impossibilities.</p><p>Zuko had to have some ulterior motive for all of this, she firmly decided. Some hidden motivation that made sense, that was not a pure expression of weakness. He simply could <em>not</em> be both stronger and, as Mother had thought, better than her. Azula would rip aside that façade of kindness, would learn the true secret behind all of his newfound strength. She would prove that he no more deserved their mother’s love than their father’s. And when she had, she would make that secret her own. If whatever it was could empower a weakling like her brother to this extent, imagine what it could do for a prodigy of her caliber. Perhaps it would even be her ticket out of this nightmare.</p>
<hr/><p>The next morning saw the two royals continuing their journey due west through the seemingly endless sea of trees, the sun slowly rising behind them while dead leaves crunched softly beneath their boots. Zuko noticed that Azula didn’t say much as they walked but kept glancing at him from a few paces back when she thought he couldn’t see. He didn’t know if she was thinking about what he had said or plotting how best to kill him, and frankly he didn’t have the time to care.  </p><p>It was midmorning or so when the siblings ran across their first trail. It wasn’t much, just a little winding dirt road snaking between the trees, barely wide enough to pull a cart on. Zuko’s experienced eyes quickly picked out the telltale signs of light indents in the packed earth. He went down on one knee, tracing a finger around the edge of the footprint and finding it abysmally shallow, but relatively sharp and well-defined, with minimal erosion at the edges.</p><p>“Someone’s been here,” he said to Azula, regaining his feet. “Recently.”</p><p>“And headed roughly northwest, from the looks of things,” she replied, arms crossed.</p><p>“Which is the way we want to go,” Zuko glanced down the winding trail. “Where there are people, there’s bound to be a settlement. And with a settlement, a map. Maybe a boat.”</p><p>“Of course, the northwest of the Earth Kingdom has been under Fire Nation control the longest,” Azula reminded him. “So, unless it’s a truly worthless backwoods hovel, there’s bound to be at least a token garrison.” She glanced at the trail. “Those tracks could have come from standard issue army boots, they’re about the right shape.”</p><p>“You think a token garrison can stop me?”</p><p>“<em>Us</em>,” she chided mildly. “And of course not. You are still of royal blood, after all. But it could provide Father with a clue as to our whereabouts. Don’t forget that our new airship fleet will allow for much faster response times. Troops from the capital could reach us here in hours instead of days.”</p><p>“That’s a risk we’ll have to take,” Zuko decided. “We need to find a way out of here and across the channel.”</p><p>“Oh, very well,” Azula gave a longsuffering sigh. “It isn’t as though I have a choice.”</p><p>“You have one,” the prince said, turning his back on her. “If you want to leave, just ask.”</p><p>“Without my bending? I’ll pass, thanks.”</p><p>“Then come on,” he beckoned as he started up the trail.</p><p>Zuko and Azula continued walking for several more hours, making better speed than before with no risk of veering off course and no underbrush to burn through. The scarred prince kept on the alert as they went but heard little more than animal calls and saw little more than endless greenery in all directions. The duo stopped for lunch when the sun was around its peak – Azula still seemed suspicious that he offered her food at all – and continued well into the afternoon. Zuko’s feet were starting to hurt a bit by this time, and he had to admit that perhaps he’d let himself go a little upon his return to the palace.</p><p>The sun overhead was just beginning its long, slow dip over the horizon when the prince noticed the smell. Half-rancid and sickly-sweet, rather like meat that had been left out to dry improperly, the stench started off mild and grew stronger as minutes passed. Zuko scrunched up and eventually pinched off his nose, though behind him his sister had no visible reaction. Still, he wasn’t prepared to abandon what was probably their best hope of finding a quick way off the mainland just because of an unpleasant odor, and the two pressed on regardless for several more minutes.</p><p>It was when the stench had become almost eye-watering that the prince and princess rounded a particular clutch of evergreens, and Zuko grimaced. A small flock of vulture ravens was nestled amidst the trail, a dozen or so of the birds hopping, cawing, and pecking at something concealed beneath their black wings. He scattered the carrion eaters with a single well-placed fireball, screeching scavengers scattering to the winds in a storm of panicked shrieks and dark feathers. Then he saw what they had been trying to get at, and his heart caught in his throat.</p><p>Corpses. Human corpses.</p><p>Two bodies, wrapped in the armor and uniforms of the Fire Nation’s army, lay sprawled face down on the trail, dull green-fletched arrows sticking out of their backs. Zuko took a sudden step backwards, hand half-consciously jumping to cover his mouth as bile struggled to leap from his throat. He caught his sister smirking at him out of the corner of his eye, but a wave of nausea threatening to overtake him drove any thoughts of insult from his mind.</p><p>“What’s the matter, Zuzu?” Azula asked. “Never seen a body before?”</p><p>“Not…” he looked pale. “Not like this.”</p><p>The smell coming from the twin carcasses was positively wretched, somehow even worse than before without the birds in the way. Zuko wasn’t lying, he <em>had</em> seen corpses before – most especially the withered skeletons in the Air Temples and the waterlogged dead floating in the sea at the North Pole – but the sheer nauseating stench of it was causing his vision to blur. Still, part of him reminded himself, these were his people, and even as a condemned traitor he still had a duty to them. Swallowing the worst of acidic bile and shaking just a little bit, the prince took a few steps forward and took a closer look at the bodies.</p><p>They hadn’t been here long, Zuko realized upon closer examination. Perhaps a score of hours, no more than a day or two. The scavengers had been picking at them, but the thick clothing and armor the soldiers were wearing had kept them mostly at bay thus far. Once he had blinked some of the tears away, he realized that one man was in a firebender’s masked uniform, the other wearing the more open helmet of a line infantryman. Neither was carrying any packs or weapons – obviously whoever had loosed these arrows had chosen to help themselves.</p><p>Zuko knelt almost delicately between the two, looking them over a little more carefully. The prince then swallowed again and reached down with a trembling hand, pulling the white mask from the firebender’s helmet. A young, cleanshaven face stared up at him with brown eyes that might once have been bright. Now they were dull, glassy, and to the prince’s eyes almost accusatory. The young man’s lips were curled back into a rictus of shock and pain, a trail of dry, blackened blood ran from the corner of his mouth.</p><p>“Agni,” he whispered, gingerly nudging the infantryman’s head so he could see that man’s face as well. “They’re barely older than we are.”</p><p>“Why do you care?” Azula’s voice sounded level. “They’re your enemies.”</p><p>“No… No, they’re not,” Zuko took a deep breath, rising to his feet. “The Fire Lord is my enemy. These are just victims.”</p><p>“Victims? They’re soldiers of the nation you vowed to defeat.”</p><p>“Victims of our family.” Zuko put a hand on his chest. “Victims of <em>us</em>. They trusted us to lead them, and we sent them to their deaths in the name of a lie.” He shook his head. “We killed them.”</p><p>“No, I’m pretty sure the arrows sticking out of their backs did that,” the princess observed flatly.</p><p>Zuko scowled back at her. “You know what I mean.”</p><p>His sister looked at him but said nothing.</p><p>“The people of the Fire Nation have given us so much of their trust,” the prince sighed sadly. “Throughout a hundred years of war, they’ve stayed loyal to their country and the Royal House, sending their children off for generation after generation to fight in our name. We owe it to them to be better. They deserve better from us than… than <em>this</em>.”</p><p>Azula’s eyes flicked to the corpses, then back to her brother, but still she remained quiet.</p><p>“These were someone’s sons, Azula!” he insisted. “Their families trusted them to us to defend the Fire Nation, and what did we do? We lied to them and sent them to their deaths!”</p><p>“And how exactly did <em>we</em> do any of this?” She finally responded. “As I recall, in your very first war meeting you spoke up in defense of men like these, and as for me, Father hardly had his teenaged daughter appointed commander of the army. I suppose you could say Great-Grandfather, Grandfather, and Father did this, but you and I?”</p><p>“Our family,” Zuko said. “We’re Fire Nation royalty because of them, their legacy is part of us. That’s why we have to redeem it.”</p><p>“Uh huh,” she looked back down at the pair of bodies. “And what would you have me do for these men, to play my part in redeeming our family’s past? Drag their bodies across the sea to be cremated in a proper temple? Seek out their families to deliver my condolences? Shall I break out into a rousing chorus of <em>Our Army Faces the Sun</em>?” Azula asked. Zuko frowned again at the mention of the army’s anthem. “They’re dead, Zuzu. Nothing you or I can do could help them now, and even if we could they would just try and capture us for Father. Besides, as I recall, we’re on a time limit.”</p><p>“We?”</p><p>“Well, I am joined to you for this little excursion, am I not?” Azula smirked. “For as long as you’ll have me.”</p><p>“Fine,” Zuko sighed, eyes drifting back to the dead. “We may not be able to do much for them… but we can at least make sure their bodies aren’t left to be scavenged.”</p><p>“Burn the bodies, cut the spirit’s earthly tether, help them find their way to our forefather’s shining halls for judgement, is that right?” The princess put a hand on her hip.</p><p>“Give them respect in death that we should have given when they were alive,” he said. “It’s not enough, but it’s something.”</p><p>“If we must,” she said.</p><p>Prince Zuko knelt down next to the firebender’s corpse, pulling the twin arrows embedded in the man’s back out. He did his best to ignore the smell, and the thick, half-black blood that slowly oozed out onto the trail. The prince rolled the soldier over onto his back, then used two fingers to close the glassy brown eyes for the last time. He tugged at the man’s arms to see if they could be properly folded over his chest as tradition demanded, but rigor mortis was already too advanced. Breaking them felt even more disrespectful than leaving them splayed out. Zuko’s final gesture was to return the white skull mask to its place in the man’s helmet, completing his uniform.</p><p>Beside him there came the sound of a hideous crack, and Zuko winced to see Azula breaking the infantryman’s left arm at the shoulder and elbow, leaving it awkwardly slumped across his breastbone. He was about to raise his voice to object when she seized his right arm and wrenched it into place with a single twist, only breaking the shoulder this time. Instead he just sighed and shook his head, while his sister almost gently deposited the arrow that had killed the man onto his chest. After a moment’s thought, Zuko returned his attention to the firebender and did likewise.</p><p>The two siblings backed off several steps, and then Azula looked to Zuko. He gave a solemn nod, and the two of them raised one fist each. On some signal more felt than seen, Zuko punched with his right hand and Azula with her left. Streams of orange-yellow and blue raced out side by side, enveloping the soldiers in brilliant cones of flame. It took a moment for even the clothes to be affected – Fire Nation garments of course being designed with flame resistance in mind. The corpses themselves would take several minutes to properly burn and, bereft of the traditional incense to hide it, the already unpleasant smell was only going to get worse as they did. Still, Zuko felt as he unflinchingly kept up the fiery flow, it was the least that they could do.</p><p>“From the flames we are born,” Azula intoned softly, staring into the blaze, earning a sidelong glance from her brother. “And to the flames we return.”</p>
<hr/><p>Azula kept a careful eye on Zuko as they continued along the trail, still nonplussed by his apparently emotional behavior. She knew he had been on a battlefield before, surely this wasn’t the first time he had seen carrion?</p><p>That question, though, soon became temporarily irrelevant. It was as the sun was transitioning to orange, beginning its slow dip over the horizon, that her keen ears caught the telltale crunch of dead leaves from somewhere behind them. It was soft and light, obviously doing its best to keep in tune with their own footsteps, but it couldn’t hide from her. She glanced over at her brother, head jerking slightly back and to the left. He nodded wordlessly. She made a quick gesture. Zuko shook his head.</p><p>Azula fell in directly behind her brother, shielding his back with her own. Her wary eyes scanned the trees around them as they kept walking, and from the subtle inclinations of Zuko’s head she could tell that he was doing the same. The siblings pressed on in silence for a few more minutes, the surrounding forest seemingly cast in deeper and deeper shadow with every step. Mere shade was nothing to her golden eyes, though, and by the time the “ambush” came, she was already disappointed in it.</p><p>It was, at least, an effort. One moment the duo were walking down the path, apparently oblivious, the next solid rock walls tore their way from the earth just a short distance ahead of and behind them. An arrow from their right flew much too far overhead to be considered a significant threat, embedding itself in a nearby spruce. Two archers, one male and one female, stepped out of the trees on either side, covering them both with bows notched in what the princess presumed was meant to be a threatening posture. A third man could be spotted nocking a new around just behind the woman.</p><p>“Hold it right there, ashmakers!” one of the men, a shorter individual with a stout build, barked. “Take one more step and you’re both dead!”</p><p>A little ways ahead of them, Azula saw another man emerging from the trees and falling into a basic earthbending stance and heard the snapping of a twig behind her indicating that his compatriot was doing likewise. She rolled her eyes at their sloppiness. Giving away your positions like that, really?</p><p>“We’re not looking for any trouble,” Zuko said calmly.</p><p>“Yeah?” the short man managed a single harsh laugh. “You found it anyway! This is <em>Earth Kingdom</em> territory, outsider.”</p><p>The princess pursed her lips at the idiot’s gall. This land hadn’t been that for decades. The third man finally managed to get a new arrow onto his bow and pulled the string tight, stepping up behind his female compatriot. Azula caught the shine of a brass hilt wrapped in red leather at a scabbard on his waist, immediately recognizing a standard-issue sword of the Fire Nation’s army. She eyed the fletching on their arrows just to be sure and nodded slightly as her suspicions were confirmed. Rebels. Or bandits, perhaps. Probably a bit of both, to be honest. The distinctions weren’t always very clear.</p><p>“We’re just passing through,” her brother still seemed unfazed. “All we want is to leave, as soon as possible.”</p><p>“And I’m the Earth King’s twin sister,” the woman had her bow aimed straight for the prince’s face.</p><p>“All you ashmakers ever want is to grow fat on ‘taxes’ from honest people,” the earthbender ahead of them had a scowl on his face.</p><p>“Look at the way the girl’s dressed,” said the man with the sword. “That’s a noble brat and her bodyguard if I’ve ever seen one. Come to squeeze even more out of us, I reckon.”</p><p>“Someone in the Fire Nation would probably pay well for the two of them,” another of the earthbenders indicated from behind her.</p><p>They probably would, Azula mentally acknowledged, though not for the reasons these peasants thought. Of course, they would have to subdue the siblings first, and that was hardly going to happen.</p><p>“You heard the man,” the short archer continued. “Come quietly, and maybe you’ll get to go home when daddy pays your ransom.”</p><p>“Sorry,” Zuko shook his head. “That isn’t happening. We’re on an important mission, and if we don’t get where we’re going a lot of innocent people are going to suffer for it. Including you.”</p><p>That earned him a sharp peal of laughter from all five of their assailants, echoing easily throughout the darkening woods.</p><p>“Yeah, loads of innocent people,” the sword-bearer spat. “Since when do <em>ashmakers</em> care about anyone but themselves?”</p><p>“Whatever the Fire Nation has done to hurt you, I’m sorry,” Zuko said as he looked the man over. “But please, we need to get out of here. Don’t make us hurt you.”</p><p>“You should listen to him,” Azula spoke up. She didn’t really understand what her brother was playing at with talking to these peasants, they were obviously no serious threat and there were no witnesses, but she decided to play along. “If you challenge us, it’s going to end <em>very</em> badly for you. Just turn around and wander off while you still can.”</p><p>“Challenge you?!” the woman scoffed. “Girlie, you make one wrong move and you’re getting an arrow in your gut. This isn’t one of your perfumed mansions, and we’re not your meek little colonial servants.”</p><p>Azula just smirked at her. Clearly, these people had never met a proper Fire Nation noble lady.</p><p>“Enough stalling!” the stocky man snarled. “Drop the swords, boy! Both of you, hands behind your heads! I see so much as a single spark and-”</p><p>Whatever doubtlessly crude threat he was about to make went forever unsaid, as Zuko chose that exact moment to spin around and deliver a roundhouse kick in the Flashing Crane style, sending a red-hot jet of fire directly at the rock wall ahead. It struck with such force as to shatter the right side of the obstacle completely, not to mention sending the earthbender beside it sprawling.</p><p>All three bow-wielders loosed arrows almost as one, but Zuko and Azula were already conjuring up walls of flame to cover themselves. The three projectiles vanished into a raging firestorm of orange and blue, only cinders emerging. A split second later, the inferno exploded out into an omnidirectional wave of fire, driving all of their foes back and searing the closest.</p><p>The earthbender directly behind the siblings tore a chunk of the ground out and hurled it roughly at Zuko’s head. The prince already had his twin broadswords drawn and simply cleaved the hunk of earth in twain with one, sweeping the other around to send a blazing arc of flame right back at the bandit. For her part, Azula had a finger-thin whip of fire emerging from her left hand and used it to lash out at the man with the stolen sword, almost playfully severing his bow just above the man’s hand.</p><p>While the second earthbender was recovering, the first had managed to rise to one knee. He seized the trail in both hands, and a row of stone spikes rushed down the path straight for her brother. Azula casually dodged another arrow with a simple sidestep, and then incinerated the next one on a whim. The disarmed archer drew his Fire Nation sword and charged her, swinging crudely with the weapon he clearly didn’t know how to use. The princess somersaulted backwards into the treeline, smirking when the man continued to pursue her. Behind him, she could see her brother, broadswords blazing, charging one of the benders while the other charged him from behind with a crude blacksmith’s hammer.</p><p>Azula felt a spot of pique. Zuko was hogging the two earthbenders, and all she got to play with were the three archers?</p><p>Her would-be assailant clearly had more idiot courage than sense or skill and came right on at her with an overhand cleave aimed for her head. She ducked easily beneath it, elbowed him in the gut, and landed a swift chop on his windpipe for good measure. Her enemy staggered back, throat bleeding from the scratches inflicted by her razor-sharp nails. Almost as soon as she did, another arrow came speeding her way. She didn’t even need to try to avoid it this time, simply opting to watch as it soared harmlessly by her and embedded itself into a tree root some distance away.</p><p>Azula could have ended the game right then, of course, but what pleasure would that have been? It had been a stressful few days and now that targets for her ire had so conveniently presented themselves, she was in no particular hurry to finish it. Instead, she retreated further back into the woods after purposefully landing a sapphire bolt right over the shorter man’s head, just enough to singe the edges of his dull brown hair. They took the bait just like the foolish peasants that they were.</p><p>The two remaining archers advanced, drawing and releasing new arrows just as fast as they could, which wasn’t very. The innumerable trees and shrubs would have offered Azula plenty of cover even if she weren’t borderline impossible to hit when she felt like being so. Green-fletched arrows went well wide of the mark as she showed off her acrobatic prowess, using the numerous low-hanging branches as convenient handholds. The man with the looted sword was somehow even less intimidating between his awful technique and the way he kept getting in the way of his own comrades’ aim.</p><p>Azula shook her head as two more arrows went thudding into trees to her left without her even needing to do anything. This was just sad. She hardly expected this trio of bandits and/or rebels to be up to Yuyan standards, but they could at least pretend to pose a challenge. The princess sighed in disappointment, delivered a spinning kick to the would-be swordsman’s chest as he came at her again, and watched another shot miss. This diversion was proving unsatisfactory, but perhaps there was one way to wring a little entertainment out of the situation.</p><p>The heavyset man not far away raised his bow, yet another green-fletched arrow already in his hands. It would have been so easy, in that moment, to send a burning dart straight through his weapon and even its bowstring. Or to set the shaft itself aflame while he had it in his grip. She could effortlessly have woven behind a tree for cover, flipped right over any shot he cared to take, charged him head on with hands blazing, or even taken the simplest option of all and struck the rebel down with one of her innumerable permutations of azure flame.</p><p>Azula did none of those things.</p><p>The princess brought her arms around in a relaxed, even leisurely sequence of an intimately familiar circular kata, smiling almost beneficently as she did. The man before her was given several seconds, ample time really, to level his bow at her. He had one eye closed and an expression of deadly serious concentration on his face, while she obligingly stood right in place for him. He loosed the arrow with only a slight tremor in his hand, and this time his aim proved impeccable. The projectile struck Azula straight in the neck, just above her black armor’s gorget. She could feel it puncturing her throat, could see the flash of triumph in the man’s eyes. Her golden eyes met his green, and her pleasant smile only broadened. The rebel didn’t even have time to scream.</p><p>Brilliant blueish-white forks of electricity leapt from Azula’s extended fingertips, illuminating the darkening forest for the merest fraction of a second. The lightning struck the bow-wielding rebel just to the left of the center of his chest, directly over his heart. The hapless bandit was hurled backwards like a child’s plaything, crashing noisily into a fine old pine tree some distance away, with such backbreaking force as to make a man thankful that he was already dead. The smoking carcass flopped almost bonelessly to the forest floor, head twisted unnaturally far backwards, mouth now and forever agape.</p><p>Azula allowed herself a moment to be dramatic, turning her head slowly towards the other two while not permitting her smile to waver for an instant.</p><p>“That sword is the property of the Fire Nation,” she told the luckless man holding it. “I’ll be taking it back now.”</p><p>This man did get the chance to scream. He screamed as he threw down his belt, the scabbard, and the stolen blade. He screamed as he turned and ran, dashing for the perceived safety of the deeper woods. He kept right on screaming, in fact, right up until the moment when a well-aimed bolt of blue fire took him directly between his shoulder blades. He would never scream again.</p><p>“D-D-Demon…” the last archer managed hoarsely, backing off, half-notched bow clutched uselessly in her quivering hands.</p><p>“Actually,” Azula replied as if lecturing an ignorant child, arms moving in circles. “I prefer <em>monster</em>.”</p><p>Lightning flashed against the setting sun for the second time. And that was that.</p><p>The princess smoothed back her hair, more out of habit than any real concern that it had fallen out of place, brushed off a handful of sticker burrs that had gotten caught on the unarmored part of her pant leg, and walked casually back towards the trail. Zuzu might be immeasurably inferior to her, but she was entirely confident that between his native skills and the lightning she had given him he could handle a paltry two amateur earthbenders by himself. And indeed, she arrived just in time to watch her brother’s flames utterly shatter a rock formation and hurl the man behind it about like a broken children’s toy. The bandit did not rise again.</p><p>“I believe that our soldiers’ deaths have been avenged,” Azula announced proudly to her brother. “No need to thank me, though, I’m happy to do my part.”</p><p>Zuko glanced over at her, then suddenly recoiled, mouth agape. The princess raised an eyebrow. Her brother stared wide-eyed at her neck.</p><p>“Oh, this?” Azula glanced down at the sagging arrow. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”</p><p>The princess concentrated, and the shaft abruptly burst into flame. Azure fire reduced the arrow to mere ash in the space of a few seconds, the wound in her jugular sealed itself bloodlessly. Zuko’s eyes went, if it was possible, even wider than before.</p><p>“My life is in <em>you</em>, dumdum,” she told him softly. “Not in myself. I can’t die as long as you live.”</p><p>“Doesn’t it hurt?” he managed.</p><p>“No,” Azula shrugged, then looked around.</p><p>There were men scattered across the trail and the surrounding forest. Some of them were still breathing. How very like Zuzu to leave a job only half finished. She gave a weary sigh. How <em>did</em> her brother get along without her? No matter, though. However involuntarily, she was here now.</p><p>Azula walked calmly over to the nearest earthbender, grabbed him by the shirt across his chest, and shoved him none too gently up against a nearby tree, pinning him there with her left arm. The beaten man groaned and twitched in her grip but could barely raise even one unsteady hand. The princess’ expression was cold as she conjured an orb of blue fire into being above her right hand. The earthbender’s eyes widened slightly, then slammed shut as he cringed away.</p><p>“Wait,” the sound of Zuko’s voice froze Azula in her tracks. “Don’t.”</p><p>“Why?” she looked behind her, unconcerned about anything the man might try.</p><p>“There’s been enough death already…” he said softly. “There doesn’t need to be any more.”</p><p>“These men were part of the group that killed the soldiers you were so torn up about,” she couldn’t believe that she had to explain something so obvious. “One of them was carrying a Fire Nation sword.”</p><p>“And you already finished them,” he said. It wasn’t a question. “That should be enough to give their spirits peace, if they needed it.”</p><p>Tradition and superstition suggested that the spirits of those slain honorlessly or left un-cremated too long frequently lingered on the earth, restless shades prowling the night in search of vengeance against the living. Given what she knew about how Grandfather had died and the distinct lack of his ghost haunting the palace, Azula very much doubted that that particular belief was true. Still, leave it to her brother to be the credulous one.</p><p>“Even if they didn’t loose the arrows themselves, these men played a part in what happened. They deserve to die.”</p><p>“You don’t know what they deserve and neither do I,” Zuko’s voice was firm now. “Like I said, there’s been enough death. For both sides. Let him go, he won’t be a threat again.”</p><p>So, he really wasn’t looking for revenge after all? How perplexing.</p><p>“Well well well,” she purred, turning her attention back to the man she had pinned to the tree. “It seems today is your lucky day after all,” Azula extinguished the flame in her right hand, using it to cup the bandit’s jaw instead. “My dear <em>companion</em> wants me to spare your worthless life, and so you get to keep your face.” She leaned in close enough to whisper into his ear. “You’ve seen what I can do. You know what I am. So, I just want you to be aware,” here she paused deliberately, “that if you should ever abuse his generosity, even once, I will know. I will find you. I will come for you in the dead of night. And I will rip your wretched spirit from your pathetic bag of flesh and devour it, piece by succulent piece.” She licked her lips. “Do you understand?”</p><p>The bandit, face pale enough to be a ghost and slick with cold sweat, could only manage the feeblest of nods.</p><p>The princess smiled sweetly at him.</p><p>The earthbender’s trousers suddenly sported a brand new dark stain.</p>
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<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Town by the Sea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Zuko and Azula pressed on for another hour or so after leaving the surviving bandits to handle their dead in whatever way they chose, minus a few items that they’d chosen to confiscate. A new scabbard with a brass hilt sticking out of it hung from the princess’ waist now, more as a point of pride than anything else. She refused to leave the Fire Nation’s property in the hands of their enemies, even if it was property that she had no real use for.</p><p>The duo called a halt shortly after the sun had properly vanished and a panoply of stars shone brightly overhead in the cloudless night sky. After walking a few hundred feet off the trail, they sat down to an unheated meal of dried meat and nuts, and shortly thereafter Zuko lay sprawled out on his bedroll for the night. For herself, Azula spent the night alternating between pacing and meditation, never far away from her brother in case the survivors from before returned with friends. Alas, they seemed to have learned their lesson, and the nighttime hours rolled by without incident.</p><p>The morning sun saw the two firebenders setting off again, continuing their lonely, silent trek through the endless green. One hour passed, and then another, and then another, and little seemed to change. The sun climbed higher and higher, reached its apex, and began its slow descent, and still the royal siblings were making their way down a winding dirt trail through the vast, sprawling forest. It wasn’t until about midafternoon that Azula noticed the first hints of something different.</p><p>The distinctive smell of salt was hardly unfamiliar to the princess of an island nation, even the faintest trace of it on the breeze was enough to bring a scowl to her face. She’d hoped the balloon’s destruction would have delayed her brother a while longer, but four days spent was still four days spent. Besides, they weren’t at the Western Air Temple just yet.</p><p>The scent of brine grew stronger and stronger as the day wore on, until at last the forest peeled away to reveal grasslands, peaceful and green. The wind was stronger here, an invigoratingly warm air current blowing in from the west, carrying with it the promise of open ocean. It was mere minutes more of walking before that promise was fulfilled.</p><p>When the first hint of blue appeared on the horizon, Azula allowed herself one last annoyed grimace before forcing composure onto her face. Zuko stared off to his left almost as much as to the trail ahead for the next little while as the ocean came more and more into view, roiling blue waves crashing endlessly onto white, sandy beaches. Stretching out seemingly without end, shining and splendid in the warm afternoon sun, the ocean seemed to the princess like a whispered promise of failure and humiliation. A stark reminder how much had been stripped from her because of a single harmless decision to walk alone on the beach at night, and how much more she still might lose before all of this was over. Azula could feel her jaw setting, even more so when the village came into view.</p><p>It was a modest little collection of hovels, Azula could tell that much even from a distance. Squat wooden houses with while or light brown exteriors, slanted roofs in drab dirt peasant greens and browns, with only a handful of more aesthetically pleasing crimson and gold roofs on a few of the larger buildings. A healthy number of crude wooden docks played host to a small fleet equally primitive wooden boats, without a single proper metal warship or the facilities to support one in sight. Just to look at it, the princess wouldn’t have estimated the entire town’s population at more than a hundred and fifty, perhaps fewer if it had been affected by conscription.</p><p>Zuko came to a halt a little ways outside the village, not too far from where a few humble fields had been plowed to grow what appeared to be wheat and barley. There didn’t seem to be any workers in the fields during the hottest part of the day – which was just a reflection of how soft these people were, summer in the Fire Nation was much warmer. Her brother pulled an unseasonable hooded cloak from his pack, throwing it over his shoulder before looking over at her.</p><p>“You need to lose the armor and hairpiece,” Zuko told her. “They’re too distinctive. You’ll give us away as nobility.”</p><p>“Your scar and cloak won’t identify you?” Azula grumbled. “And haven’t you taken enough of my dignity already?”</p><p>“There’s more than one person with a burn scar on his face. There aren’t nearly so many that walk around dressed like that.”</p><p>“And there are so very many people that walk around wearing a hooded cloak on a hot summer afternoon?” she rolled her eyes. “If you’re going to insist that we have to be as inconspicuous as possible you could at least have us put on some proper colonial peasant clothing.”</p><p>“I… didn’t bring any,” he admitted.</p><p>“Didn’t think that far ahead?”</p><p>“I didn’t think I’d <em>need</em> it! I wouldn’t have, if it weren’t for you!”</p><p>“And you wouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place if you’d just taken my deal when I first offered it,” Azula glared briefly at him, then sighed. “We could always steal some. I’m sure there are some clotheslines around here somewhere.”</p><p>“We’re not robbing poor fishermen for disguises, Azula,” he glared back at her.</p><p>“Leave them a gold coin or two if it makes you feel any better. Surely you didn’t forget to bring <em>money</em>?”</p><p>“No, I brought plenty of that.”</p><p>“Then what’s the problem? Take a few of their clothes, leave them more money than they’re likely to see in a given month, hardly an affair to weigh on even the most tender conscience.”</p><p>“…I hate it when you make sense.”</p><p>“Welcome to my world, Zuzu.”</p><hr/><p>Walking through the poor coastal village in just drab, olive green peasant girl robes with her hair down made Azula feel… not vulnerable, that would be absurd, but disgustingly <em>common</em>. She already missed her fine crimson and black tunic and pants, now stored safely alongside her crown in Zuko’s pack. Those were worthy clothes, perfectly tailored, comfortable, flexible, and fire resistant. This new outfit was the closest to her size that they could find, and it was still a bit tight around the chest, with long skirts restricting her range of movement. Her glorious armor had regrettably had to be left behind altogether, dumped in a hole outside of town, an unworthy fate for such an expensive masterpiece. But her cuirass simply wouldn’t inconspicuously fit anywhere.</p><p>Haifeng was this village’s name, as she’d learned within minutes of setting foot inside it. It was as every bit as backwards and depressingly plain as she’d feared such an isolated coastal settlement would be, to the point that Azula was mildly surprised that the Fire Nation had bothered claiming it at all. Meager homes filled with uninteresting people, mostly of Earth Kingdom heritage. There was barely a single Fire Nation soldier in sight, at most the occasional man with a sword or spear patrolling the streets with a bored expression on his face.</p><p>The two of them were currently in the midst of Haifeng’s pitiful excuse for a market square. It was a short dirt street not far from the shoreline, rows of crude wooden stalls shielded from the sun by tanned hides or faded cloth lining either side for a short ways, no more than two dozen. Azula watched in disgust as the peasants around her hawked their sad little wares to one another, mostly reeking fish or grains, but with a few carved or forged trinkets thrown in here and there. The princess noticed that these were overwhelmingly practical implements, such as simple iron fishing spears, netting, hammers, nails, and sickles. There were not more than a handful of more decorative trinkets on display anywhere. What a sad, drab way to live. One could almost pity them.</p><p>“I’m looking for a map that shows the local currents,” her brother was explaining to the withered-looking older woman manning one of the stands. “As detailed as you’ve got.”</p><p>“Hmmm…” she rustled through the small collection of cracking parchment scrolls nestled beside her much broader array of hooks and lines. “Let me see here…” she unfurled one. “Something like this?”</p><p>“Too… parochial,” Zuko shook his head. “Have you got anything with a broader scope? Regional, maybe?”</p><p>“Well, I don’t know,” the woman put a hand to her chin before looking over one scroll, putting it down, and trying a second. “Not a lot of folks ‘round here need somethin’ like that.”</p><p>“So, you don’t have it.” Zuko began to turn away.</p><p>“Now hold your ostrich horses, I didn’t say that!” she put a hand up. “Just hold on a minute now…”</p><p>The woman turned around and bent over, muttering something about young people as she pulled a wooden box out from behind where she sat. Azula leaned against a nearby building and watched as some colonial peasant presented her green-robed hindquarters to the two most important teenagers in the Fire Nation for the better part of two minutes. There was much mumbling, some rustling and creaking, and the woman hit her head on her own table as she got back up, but at last she unfurled another scroll in front of the prince, this one made of paper.</p><p>“Is <em>this</em> more like what you’re wantin’?” she asked.</p><p>Azula saw her brother give it a quick look, hand on his chin, and then a slight nod.</p><p>“Imported scrolls don’t come cheap, you know,” the elderly woman smiled. “That’s gonna cost you-”</p><p>Zuko tossed the surprised woman a silver coin, which she fumbled and quickly lost hold of. Azula curled her lips when the merchant practically fell out of her chair in an undignified scramble, patting frantically through the packed earth. She rose again a moment later, hands and sleeves covered in dirt but with a triumphant smile across her face.</p><p>“Such a generous young man,” she flattered the prince, while he rolled up the scroll and stuck it in his pack. “Say, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.” She eyed him thoughtfully. “What’s your name, son?”</p><p>“You never saw me,” he tossed her a second piece, which she was more or less able to catch this time.</p><p>“I… of course,” she nodded softly, coin vanishing swiftly into her long sleeve. “Pleasant travels.”</p><p>Zuko returned the nod, hoisted his pack back over his shoulder, and walked slowly over to where Azula was waiting with arms crossed. Another brown-clothed peasant carried a staff hung with several dried herring just behind him, narrowly missing the prince’s head. Her brother didn’t seem to notice.</p><p>“So,” the princess looked down at her nails, then back up at her brother. “Now that you have our directions, are we to go and purchase transport now? A little rowboat of our very own, perhaps?”</p><p>“It’s your fault we’re in this town to begin with,” he brushed brusquely past her, walking down a nearby alley.</p><p>“No, I’d say it’s yours for forcibly taking me along without thought for the consequences,” she kept pace with him. “You ruined my life on what should have been one of its best days, how did you think I would feel?”</p><p>“I didn’t ruin your life, Dad did that,” Zuko shook his head. “The only reason I brought you along at all was to see if there was something left of you that I could help.”</p><p>“And why would you want to help me, again?” Azula scowled at him, hardly about to believe such an obvious lie. “You’ve already demonstrated a commendable lack of gratitude for my helping you.”</p><p>“You’re my <em>sister</em>, Azula,” he glanced at her. “That has to count for something.”</p><p>Azula frowned a little deeper, wondering why he insisted on this charade. The two of them crossed another crowded dirt street, dodging a few more fishermen on their way back in from the ocean. The sun overhead was beating down as they made their way further from the marketplace and down towards the docks. The half dozen wooden piers that served Haifeng anchored a small fleet of wooden ships that were currently sitting several feet below the docks, bobbing gently in the soft currents. Ranging from those little better than Water Tribe canoes to somewhat larger but still modest sailing vessels, the princess begrudgingly admitted that there might be something here capable of carrying the pair of them across the waves, at least for a short while.</p><p>“You there, with the swords!” came a sudden voice from behind them. “Halt!”</p><p>Ahead of her, Zuko froze. Azula kept walking and turned her head just enough to take a quick glance behind her. A single man in a firebender’s uniform was standing on the dirt road, pointing one uncovered hand at her brother’s back, staring at him through the white skull mask in his helmet. The princess smirked slightly. The soldier was completely alone, in the event that Zuko couldn’t talk, or more likely bribe, their way out of the situation, killing him and dumping the body in the ocean shouldn’t prove overly difficult. Her brother might whine a bit, but he’d see the necessity of it, she was sure.</p><p>“Weapons aren’t permitted without authorization from the garrison commander!” the soldier continued, taking a few steps forward. “No permission has been given for-”</p><p>Her brother turned around, and the man froze in his tracks.</p><p>“Prince Zuko?” the firebender half-whispered.</p><p>Azula stopped walking immediately, hands half-consciously assuming a combat stance. If word of what had happened had reached even a backwater like Haifeng already, then Father was getting the news out even faster than anticipated. That being the case, she was more than ready to unleash a lightning bolt into the man’s chest, kill every messenger hawk in this wretched place, and flee.</p><p>But what happened next surprised her. The man made no move to attack, instead falling to one knee right there in the middle of the dirt road and bowing his head.</p><p>“My lord, w-we weren’t expecting you!” he said with audible awe in his voice. Azula allowed her stance to relax, but only slightly.</p><p>Zuko advanced on the kneeling firebender, who risked looking up as the prince’s shadow fell upon him. Her brother took no apparent offense, wordlessly beckoning the soldier to rise. When he did, Zuko pointed to a more secluded alleyway between two houses a ways off the main road, cast in long shadows by the afternoon sun.</p><p>“Let’s take this somewhere a little more private,” he said in his new commanding tone, and the princess lightly nodded her approval. Stabbing a man in an alley was less conspicuous than stopping his heart with electricity, after all.</p><p>Azula might have expected the firebender to notice that as well and resist, but quite the contrary. The man went along without a word of protest, allowing himself to be led from the busier streets for the relative quiet of the shadows. She caught the soldier glancing back at her as she followed the two, but he said nothing. When they were tucked out of the way, the soldier got right back down on one knee.</p><p>“It’s an honor to have you here, sir,” the soldier told her brother. “Please, forgive my earlier words. We didn’t know that you were coming. There isn’t much here, but if you had let us know we would have prepared the grandest reception feast we-”</p><p>“That’s not necessary,” Zuko cut him off. “Just tell me, how do you know who I am? A lot of young men have firebending scars on their faces.”</p><p>“All of us here know who <em>you</em> are, your highness,” the kneeling man said with undisguised reverence.</p><p>Zuko narrowed his eyes slightly. “What do you mean by that?”</p><p>“Apologies, my lord,” he dipped his head. “Perhaps an introduction would help?”</p><p>The firebender looked up and pulled the white skull mask from his helmet with one hand, revealing a cleanshaven face that might once have been called handsome. Eyes such a dark shade of brown that they were almost black were set deeply into a tanned face, enveloped with subtle dark rings. Heavy lines crisscrossed the soldier’s brow, and a jagged scar ran down the side of his nose and across his sunken right cheek. For all that, he only looked a few years older than either of the royals. Azula looked for a spark of recognition in her brother’s eyes but saw none.</p><p>“First Lieutenant Lee, 117<sup>th</sup> Coastal Guard, 5<sup>th</sup> Platoon,” the soldier informed the prince. “Formerly of the 41<sup>st</sup> Division.” He bowed his head one more time. “At your service, Prince Zuko.”</p><p>41<sup>st</sup> Division? Azula thought that sounded familiar for a moment, then she recalled the conversation in the villa’s garden a few weeks before. That was the green formation that Zuko had had his face mutilated for speaking in defense of, wasn’t it? The one that had been dispersed after sustaining crippling losses in General Bujing’s failed assault.</p><p>“The 41<sup>st</sup>?” apparently her brother was coming to the same realization. “I… what do you want?”</p><p>Lee blinked. “To welcome you, of course, your highness. And…” he looked down. “To thank you, I suppose.”</p><p>“Thank me? For what?” Zuko asked. “I didn’t do anything for you.”</p><p>“We know how you got your scar, my lord,” the soldier said quietly, eyes downcast. “You were the only one in the damned meeting to say anything.”</p><p>“…How would you know that?”</p><p>“We learned the story after… after…” Lee’s voice wavered, and he swallowed. “After that <em>massacre</em>. Those of us that were… still alive.”</p><p>Azula frowned again. The Agni Kai itself was public knowledge, albeit not widely known beyond the confines of the capital, but how could some lowly officer have possibly learned the details of a meeting in the Fire Lord’s own war room? Who would dare to-</p><p>The princess blinked suddenly, then gave a wry smile and shook her head slightly. To ask that question was to answer it. Uncle. Uncle would dare to tell the story of what had happened that day, or more likely to have sent word through his old contacts in the army. It would be just like the sentimental old fool to leak the truth to the surviving soldiers of just why their comrades had been slaughtered so badly in a failed encirclement. And, of course, exactly who had tried, however feebly, to stand up for them.</p><p>“I’m sorry for what happened to you,” Zuko looked down at Lee. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”</p><p>“Don’t be. It’s… it’s all in the past now,” the firebender took a deep breath, then looked up again. “What was I saying? Um…” he paused for a second. “Oh yes, welcome, Prince Zuko. I’m sorry to say we don’t have worthy accommodations prepared for royalty. We had no notice of your arrival.”</p><p>“No need, I’m just passing through. I was just on my way to see about a boat.”</p><p>“A… boat,” the lieutenant looked confused. “From here? For royalty?”</p><p>“It’s a private excursion,” Zuko assured him.</p><p>“I… see, sir,” he replied, though he obviously did not. “In any case, the tides have already gone out. Even if you had a ship, you wouldn’t make it past the reef and sandbars to the open ocean. Any attempt to go beyond the town’s immediate vicinity right now would just leave you stranded at best, sunk at worst.”</p><p>Azula could see her brother grimace and had to fight to conceal her smirk.</p><p>“When will high tide return, then?”</p><p>“Not until the early hours of the morning, my lord. I’m afraid that you’d have to stay the night.”</p><p>“I… fine,” Zuko’s face assumed its familiar scowl. “Do you know of anywhere to lay a head for the night?”</p><p>“We could commandeer the mayor’s house for you. It isn’t much, but-”</p><p>“No,” the prince interrupted. “Let’s just say I’m trying to keep this visit low profile.”</p><p>“Well, you could… um…” Lieutenant Lee still looked confused. “Stay… with us, I guess?”</p><hr/><p>Fire Lord Ozai was not having a good week.</p><p>Yes, the invasion of the capital during the eclipse had been thwarted, but that was simply according to his expectations. During the eclipse he’d learned that the supposedly dead Avatar was still alive to oppose him. After the fact he had been informed that his brother had escaped from prison. Over the next few days, he had received a number of disturbing reports regarding a deteriorating situation on the continent following the black sun, not the least of which involved some sort of earthbending demon apparently expelling the entire army stationed in New Ozai singlehandedly. The necessary troop consolidations prior to the comet’s return were already proving more difficult and costly than anticipated. But the real damage was the loss of both of his heirs.</p><p>Ozai was not a man accustomed to being surprised. He had always preferred his world to be a well-oiled, obedient machine where things happened when and where he wanted. To have his son’s sudden upsurge of potential cut short by foolish idealism garnered from his useless older brother was bad enough, though Zuko had always been such a weak child that he could almost imagine himself anticipating something happening along those lines. But the simultaneous loss of Azula? That had truly taken him off guard.</p><p>Why had his daughter chosen her brother over him? He had taught her to be better than that, shown her that sentimentality was a weakness from an early age. Azula had been such an eager learner that it had never even occurred to Ozai that some hidden failing might yet lurk in the depths of her heart. Even when she had technically violated orders by recruiting rather than arresting Zuko in Ba Sing Se, he’d indulged her simply because the unprecedented victory there vindicated her decision. Now he was forced to consider that she may have been more attached to her brother than he’d realized the entire time.</p><p>There was too much of their mother in <em>both</em> of those children, apparently.</p><p>Whatever the truth behind his daughter’s abandonment, losing both Zuko and Azula meant that officially, he was without an heir. To be in the position of potentially being the end of his dynasty was unacceptable, a shameful failure of control that could not help but be noticed. Some were already whispering that the Fire Lord might have been cursed by the spirits, perhaps even by the Sun Father himself, to have sired two traitorous children. They would be dealt with accordingly. But the issue would still eventually need to be resolved. That was where the boy came in.</p><p>His name was Aizim, and he was shaking while he knelt. As, Ozai had to remind himself, most any four-year-old would do if suddenly seized from his home in Yu Dao by Imperial Firebenders in the dead of night, then brought by airship before the Fire Lord himself without a word of explanation. He was in no mood for any further displays of weakness from his bloodline but allowances for circumstances had to be made. The child had only had a recently retired army officer and a former servant girl to raise him, and he was still so young and malleable. At least he looked the part, with silky black hair, eyes the color of molten gold, already prominent cheekbones, and handsome features that marked him out of the common rabble. Most importantly of all, his agents had reported the boy had displayed a potent spark in his eyes since the day of his birth.</p><p>“Do you know why you are here, child?” Ozai asked softly, flames crackling in front of his throne.</p><p>“No,” the kneeling youngster said. To his credit, he was at least <em>trying</em> to conceal his fear. “I d-don’t, my lord, I-”</p><p>“You are here because you may be of some use to me,” the Fire Lord cut him off. “Much may ride upon you in the future.” He deliberately paused, letting Aizim sweat. “But you must first prove yourself worthy.”</p><p>“How long do I h-have to be here, sir?”</p><p>“My lord,” Ozai sternly corrected him.</p><p>He swallowed audibly and bowed deeper; face almost pressed to the floor.</p><p>“My lord,” Aizim said softly.</p><p>“Good,” Ozai nodded. “You will remain here for as long as I choose. You belong to the palace now. What came before is not important.”</p><p>“B-But,” the boy licked his lips. “My mother… my father…”</p><p>“No,” the Fire Lord rose to his full height, towering over the quivering child. “<em>I</em> am your father.”</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yes, I wrote the scene that way specifically so Ozai could say that line. No, I'm not sorry.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. The Garrison</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Stay with you?” Azula cut into the conversation for the first time. “You mean in your barracks?”</p><p>“Well, yes, but…” Lieutenant Lee looked her up and down with his dark brown eyes. “I beg your pardon, ma’am, but who are you?”</p><p>Azula fumed a little at not being recognized when her brother was, but she supposed that ugly burn across his face did make it a touch more obvious.</p><p>“<em>I</em> am your princess, Azula,” she said, looking down with arms crossed.</p><p>Azula resisted the urge to frown when the officer’s gaze flicked to Zuko for confirmation, who gave a quick nod. The lieutenant’s eyes widened and he bowed his head to her as well, though she couldn’t help but notice that it was shorter and shallower than what he had given the prince.</p><p>“My apologies, your highness,” he said when he looked back up. “I didn’t recognize you.”</p><p>“Well, that <em>is</em> the point of wearing this,” the princess gave her best impression of a magnanimous expression. “So, I suppose you’re forgiven.”</p><p>“Thank you, princess,” he nodded. “I have to say, I wasn’t expecting both of the Fire Lord’s children to grace us-”</p><p>“Of course you weren’t,” Azula said. “But that’s beside the point. You were discussing having us stay the night with you?”</p><p>“Er, yes.” Lee cleared his throat. “If your highnesses wished to stay until morning but didn’t want us to put you up in someone’s home, then our quarters might be suitable. Haifeng doesn’t see enough travelers for a regular inn to be available, even if that were proper.” He looked up. “It happens that we have two spaces unoccupied right now.”</p><p>“Wouldn’t you need permission from your garrison commander to just put up two strangers in your barracks?” Zuko asked him.</p><p>“You… aren’t strangers to us, your highness. We’re all from the former 41<sup>st</sup>. We’ve all seen your face on the revoked wanted posters sent out months ago. Anyone here would recognize you in a heartbeat, sir. And besides, I assure you that if you want the commander’s permission, you already have it.”</p><p>“How do you know that? Who’s the garrison commander?”</p><p>“Well… me,” the lieutenant sounded a little embarrassed. “Haifeng didn’t merit the deployment of more than a single platoon.”</p><p>Azula didn’t think it merited that much but decided to keep that to herself.</p><p>“There are only two squads here, ten men altogether,” he continued. “Well, eight with Gui and Heng out on their supply run. They’re running a little behind, but they should be back within another day or so.”</p><p>Zuko and Azula looked at one another.</p><p>“These two soldiers…” the prince said carefully. “Were they a firebender and a swordsman?”</p><p>“Um, yes,” Lee looked a little surprised. “Did you meet them on your way here?”</p><p>“…Sorta,” Zuko looked profoundly uncomfortable. “I… They…” he winced. “They aren’t coming back.”</p><p>“What do you – oh,” the soldier’s eyes widened, then dropped. He stared quietly down at his own boots, shaking hands clenched into fists. For a short while, no one said anything.</p><p>“Your men, they’ve been avenged,” Azula eventually broke the silence. “We encountered the bandits that attacked them. They won’t trouble you again.”</p><p>“…I see,” the lieutenant wiped something off his cheek with one sleeve, then slipped the white mask back into his helmet. “That’s g-good, I suppose.”</p><p>“Look, I can see that you need a moment,” the princess said in a soft voice. “Let my brother and I talk this over. You get up and take some time to get composed. We’ll be back shortly.”</p><p>“Th-Thank you, your highness…” the firebender managed, bowing his masked face one more time.</p><p>Azula gestured at Zuko, who nodded and followed her. They left the lieutenant standing in the shadowed alley, leaning on a house for support, one hand clutching his chest. The siblings walked a short ways towards the water front, dodging a few incoming peasants along the way. They stopped not far from the docks, atop a small hill overlooking the vast expanse of ocean stretching out over the horizon.</p><p>“I think we should take him up on it,” Azula said without preamble.</p><p>“You do?” Zuko looked a little surprised. “Why?”</p><p>“He knows we’re here, and even if we kill him then by his own words the other soldiers here would recognize you just as easily. So, that leaves us with two options: stay the night where we can see them and overhear if they start acting suspicious or stay the night somewhere else and face a possible surprise attack.”</p><p>That or burn the entire town to the ground to cover their tracks of course, but that carried its own risks. The Fire Nation soldiers were the only ones who would have any reason to know Zuko on sight, the peasants were unlikely to notice or care who the travelers were unless they announced themselves or attacked the garrison in broad daylight. Razing the village would be a lot of work and her chains would make it difficult to ensure no one got away to report them.</p><p>“We should consider ourselves lucky that even important tidings take time to reach every insignificant little backwater, or there would be new wanted posters of us up already,” she continued. “But a messenger hawk bearing the news will get here sooner or later. It’s best to plan as though it will happen while we’re here, just to be cautious.”</p><p>“You think they’d turn on us if it did?”</p><p>Azula couldn’t help it. She actually chuckled a little. “Of course they would, Zuzu. Father will have put an enormous bounty on our heads, and likely a share in our death sentences for any found to have aided us. They would have nothing to gain by not attacking us in ‘our’ sleep, and everything to lose.”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Zuko looked out over the sparkling blue waves. “The lieutenant seemed…”</p><p>“What? Grateful? For what, one emotional outburst from three years ago that didn’t even change anything for them?” the princess rolled her eyes. “Zuko, even you can’t be stupid enough to believe that such gratitude would be stronger than duty to their country, the riches and honor they’d receive for bringing down the traitor prince and princess, and most of all fear of the Fire Lord’s wrath. By comparison, we’ve nothing to offer them.”          </p><p>“You sound confident.”</p><p>“I know people.”</p><p>“Like you knew me?”</p><p>“I got you to listen to me over and against Uncle twice, did I not?”</p><p>“Yes,” he shamefacedly admitted, still not looking at her. “But you didn’t see this whole journey coming. You’re not infallible.”</p><p>“Not yet, admittedly,” she folded her arms behind her back, joining her brother in gazing out over the sea. “But I am quite good, all the same.”</p><p>Zuko didn’t reply for a short while. “So, you think they’d attack us if they knew the truth, and that’s why you think we should stay with them, huh?”</p><p>“Yes. It’s quite simple. You and I can both see how shallow the water is near the shoreline right now, there’s no reason to believe any of these flimsy wooden peasant boats would make it through. We really do need to stay the night. If we stay somewhere else, they might gain the element of surprise over us. If we stay with them, we have the element of surprise,” Azula explained. “Unless they’re incredibly stupid they’ll know both of the Fire Lord’s children are bound to be powerful benders, and even if they are, I’m sure that any wanted posters sent out will mention it. The best time for them to attack us with so few men would therefore be while we’re in bed. Even the greatest firebender of all time will die if her throat is cut in her sleep.”</p><p>“But you don’t have to sleep.”</p><p>“Exactly. I’ll feign rest tonight and keep a watchful ear out. If they try to assassinate us, I’ll kill them all before you’re even out of bed.”</p><p>“And you’re sure that’s what they’d do?”</p><p>“Naturally. Poisoning us is the only other logical option, and our appearance being a total surprise they have no reason whatsoever to have any on hand. Just to be safe though, if they offer you any food make sure to only eat from dishes you see one of them eating from first. And only drink from a common teapot.”</p><p>“You really think of everything.”</p><p>“I always do,” Azula smirked.</p><hr/><p>“So,” said a spearman called Fusao asked as he handed the prince a cup of tea later that evening. “What are your highnesses doing all the way out here?”</p><p>“…Inspection,” Zuko took the cup without taking a sip. “We’re… inspecting things.”</p><p>“Both of you? Without an escort?” the soldier poured himself a cup and took a long drink. “That’s… that’s not standard protocol, is it?”</p><p>“I dunno,” another man shrugged. “Never met one of the royals before.”</p><p>“I heard that members of the royal family don’t even leave their rooms except in a palanquin,” one of the other soldiers, Ping, suggested.</p><p>“That’s stupid, how would they ever have any fun at the festivals in one of those? The capital’s supposed to have great parties around the solstices.”</p><p>“Our family is… um, strange,” Zuko said. “To you guys, I mean. We don’t get out that much.”</p><p>“So, is this like a field trip for you guys?” the platoon’s other surviving firebender, Li (different character, same pronunciation), asked. “A chance to get out and about, away from palace life?”</p><p>“You could say that,” the prince nodded.</p><p>From across the room, Azula snorted, then took a sip of her own tea. Disgustingly plain stuff, barely a hint of spice.</p><p>“But what would you even need to see in a place like this? Nothing here but sand and fish and pentapox outbreaks.”</p><p>“Well, we need to see how the colonies are being run,” her brother continued talking. “Without anyone trying to pull the wool over our eyes. That’s why we’re in disguise and everything.”</p><p>“Is that safe?” Ping sounded a little concerned. “Why would the Fire Lord just let you wander the countryside alone with so many bandits running around?”</p><p>That generated a low murmur of agreement. None of the former members of the 41<sup>st</sup> had taken the news that their already small band was now two smaller very well.</p><p>“Our father is completely confident in our skills,” Azula inserted herself into the conversation. “Do I need to remind you that between the two of us we brought down the walls of Ba Sing Se and slew the Avatar singlehandedly? Surely even here you all must have heard of that. Mere raiders and bandits pose no serious threat to the two of us.”</p><p>A hush fell over the small common area in the appropriated seaside house that made up the soldiers’ barracks. A handful of the men just older than the princess looked over at her, others chose to look away, one seemed to be pretending that he couldn’t hear. No one seemed in any hurry to reply.</p><p>“What she said,” Zuko eventually coughed, with just a trace of awkwardness.</p><p>“But still, shouldn’t you have some backup or something?” Li gestured with one hand. “A few guards, maybe dressed up as travelling merchants or something? Some local mercenaries maybe? You’re important to the Fire Nation, your highness. We can’t afford to lose you.”</p><p>“We’re… not that big a deal,” her brother shook his head. “But anyway, enough about us. Why don’t you tell us about yourselves?”</p><p>“Like what?” the spearman called Chenglei replied.</p><p>“Like… what do you guys do for fun around here?”</p><p>“Fish,” said one man.</p><p>“Play dice,” added a different infantryman, Bai, before glaring at Ping. “We used to have the cards for Caldera City Shuffle until <em>someone</em> left them on the beach right before high tide.”</p><p>“I said I was sorry!”</p><p>“And I said I want my money back you cheap bas-”</p><p>“Break it up!” Lieutenant Lee forced himself between the two feuding men. “You’re in the presence of royalty here!”</p><p>“We drink,” still another soldier told the prince in a flat tone. “A lot.”</p><p>And so it went. Zuzu continued to try and talk with the peasant levees in his own ungainly way, the commoners continued to be commoners, and Azula continued to sit back and not say very much.</p><p>It didn’t bother her, of course, that Zuko was the one getting all of the attention here and she was getting not so politely ignored. The fact that all of the soldiers not still on patrol were clustered around the end of the table where the prince sat while the third of it nearest her was empty was simply no big deal. Why would a princess care what a rabble of commoners thought about her?</p><p>Azula looked into her drink and frowned.</p><hr/><p>A few hours later, and Zuko and Azula were laying on a pair of standard-issue military cots, all cheap mass-produced red fabric stretched across a steel frame. Hardly befitting of royalty, of course, and the lieutenant had offered to go find and confiscate the best bedding he could find, but the prince had politely turned him down. No reason to cause a scene, her brother had said. At least he’d consented to the two of them taking the largest bedroom available, after the officer had forced his men to vacate it. Plus a good portion of the house around it.</p><p>Outside, the sun had already dipped below the horizon and the last traces of orange were fading from the sky. Several stars were visible overhead, twinkling diamonds reflected in the vast expanse of water visible below the siblings’ window. From this angle, the little mass of peasant homes constituting Haifeng couldn’t even be seen at all, which was just fine by Azula.</p><p>The princess had kept her ears open even with her eyes closed, one pressed right up against the whitewashed wooden wall. There was the distant sound of waves lapping gently at the shoreline, muffled voices filtered through several layers of wall, and the sound of her brother’s breathing. The princess allowed a considerable amount of time pass in silence before she felt truly satisfied, but eventually she felt secure enough to roll over and make a gesture. The prince’s golden eyes fell upon her, and she beckoned him closer with two fingers.</p><p>“We should think about eliminating them tonight,” Azula whispered to Zuko when he was near enough.</p><p>“What?” her brother looked at her like she couldn’t be serious.</p><p>“The soldiers know who we are, and that we were here, but no one else in the village does,” she said calmly. “If we eliminate them, then there won’t be anyone left to report what happened to Father.”</p><p>“These men are loyal soldiers of the Fire Nation!” he hissed at her. “Our family has already put them through so much! We can’t just… just kill them in their sleep!”</p><p>“Of course we can,” she continued in her perfectly level tone. “There are six of them in this building and two of them out on night patrol. We should be able to dispatch at least half of them before they wake up, and with me by your side the remainder shouldn’t pose any difficulty. After that we ambush the others when they return to be relieved, and then leave bright and early with no one the wiser that we were ever here.”</p><p>“Azula-”</p><p>“Anything happening in a town this distant and remote will take some time to come to the attention of anyone who matters with the recent upswing in rebel activity. Whenever they do figure out that the 5<sup>th</sup> Platoon was wiped out here, if we do it right, they’ll have no reason to blame it on the two of us specifically. Those swords of yours would be the best method.”</p><p>“We are not doing that!”</p><p>“Don’t be an even bigger fool than usual, Zuzu,” Azula stared at him. “You <em>must</em> be able to see that if these men survive the night, when Father’s message about our treason does arrive they’ll be able to provide him with our location and the direction we left in, considerably narrowing the search radius for whatever pursuers he’s set on us. That in turn makes it that much more difficult for our would-be allies at the Western Air Temple to stay undetected.”</p><p>“They took us in in good faith, gave us food and shelter and a place to lay our heads, and you want to murder them in their beds?!” Zuko was visibly struggling not to shout. “Azula, what is <em>wrong</em> with you?!”</p><p>“I see things as they are, and I’m trying to fulfill the goals you’ve set for us in the most effective way possible.”</p><p>“By doing… by…” the prince’s face was contorted with a rage that might have been intimidating if it weren’t for such a silly cause.</p><p>“Like Mother always said, I’m a monster. Only, I’m <em>your</em> monster now.”</p><p>“She never said that,” her brother hissed. “<em>Never</em>.”</p><p>Azula frowned a little, felt something throb briefly inside her chest, and quickly shook her head.</p><p>“I’m only being logical. If you want the best chance of stopping the continent from burning when Sozin’s Comet returns, your stated objective, then you’ll need all the undisturbed time you can get with the Avatar. If Father has any idea of where we are, he’ll dispatch units from the air force to hunt us down, not to mention every assassin and bounty hunter from here to Ba Sing Se. That will make your task all the more difficult, and incidentally might well kill us or the Avatar in the process. We can greatly reduce that risk by-”</p><p>“<em>No</em> unnecessary deaths, Azula,” Zuko jabbed one finger directly between his sister’s eyes. “That’s final.”</p><p>“…As you command,” Azula sighed, bowing her head.</p><p>“And <em>I</em> decide what’s necessary,” he wisely added a second later.</p><p>“Yes, my prince,” the princess sighed again.</p><p>“Hmph,” Zuko snorted, laying back on his cot, hands behind his head.</p><p><em>“He’s going to get us both killed before this is over,”</em> she thought.</p><hr/><p>The night passed mostly, for whatever it was worth, in relative peace. There was the occasional noise from the other side of the building, the muttering and muffled laughter of bored soldiers, the creak of doors as night patrols were switched out, but for many hours there was nothing Azula deemed truly significant. The princess spent the sleepless hours lying on her side, facing her brother. The pale light of the moon and stars trickled in though a strategically placed gap in the curtains, carefully aimed at the room’s only entrance. If anyone so much as cracked open the door, she would get a clear view of them.</p><p>The night sky itself was starting to wane, the faint and familiar trickle of power that preceded sunrise just beginning to stir inside Azula’s chest, when something finally happened. The first she heard of it were raised voices through the walls, too distant to properly eavesdrop upon but obvious enough in their presence. They went on intermittently for a few minutes, before suddenly being replaced by a new sound – heavy boots on the creaking wooden floor.</p><p>The princess rolled over slightly in her cot, placing a single hand on top of her blanket and closing her eyes to just a crack as the noises got louder. It wasn’t long at all before they stopped right outside, the old hinges began to squeak, and Azula tensed, fingers on her right hand curling back until only two were extended. All she needed was one wrong move, one threatening gesture that she could present to Zuko, and that would be the end of it. They would be safer, and she would again be proven right.</p><p>The door opened slowly, almost painfully so, but eventually the pale light revealed the helmetless form of Lieutenant Lee standing in the doorframe. The other Li, this one in full firebending uniform, was directly behind his commanding officer with hands folded behind his back. Azula supposed that it made sense that he would want to claim direct personal credit for the kills and bringing along what puny bending backup he had was just common sense. But still, they were nothing next to her. The princess’ eyes tracked the officer carefully, completely unafraid, merely waiting for Lee to place the final seal on his own death warrant.</p><p>He walked up to the side of her brother’s bed, a scroll in one hand. She leveled two fingers right at the back of his neck.</p><p>“Your highness,” the lieutenant’s voice was sharp, tense, and low. “Wake up, please.”</p><p>Well, that was unexpected.</p><p>“Prince Zuko,” he said a little louder when her brother remained snoozing. “Wake up! This is urgent!”</p><p>The officer reached down and shook the cot just a little bit. Zuko groaned, and Azula could see him blearily opening his unscarred eye. At least he had the sense to snap into a defensive position almost immediately, hands raised for firebending. The soldier just sank to one knee, the princess’ two fingers subtly tracking him all the while.</p><p>“My lord,” Lee unfurled the scroll he was holding, presenting it to Zuko. “We received a messenger hawk instructing us to post these, bearing the sigil of General Shu. We… please tell me, is this true?”</p><p>The prince’s eyes scanned briefly over the paper, then flicked back to Lee. “…Yes.”</p><p><em>“Zuko you idiot,”</em> Azula had to resist the urge to groan. She was supposed to still be asleep, after all.</p><p>“I see,” the soldier said, sighing heavily and looking down. “Did you come here looking to hide, then? Because if so, there are-”</p><p>“We’re not here to hide,” Zuko shook his head, sitting up in the cot and rubbing his good eye. “We’re on a mission.”</p><p>“A… mission?”</p><p>“To restore balance to the world. To end the war.”</p><p>“Ending the war….” Lee trailed off, and it didn’t take a prodigy to detect the note of longing in his voice.</p><p>“I’m sorry that we didn’t tell you this earlier,” her brother’s tone was gentle. “But, well… you know.”</p><p>“I do know, sir,” the man gave another heavy sigh, then bowed his head low once again before looking up. “How can we help?”</p><p>“You can’t just drag your men into something like this.”</p><p>“We’ve already discussed it, sir,” the masked firebender standing by the doorway cut in. “We all agreed. If you need us, we’re with you.”</p><p>“I can’t let you do that,” Zuko shook his head. “You saw what the poster said. Anyone found to have harbored or aided us will be considered a traitor and face the Fire Lord’s-”</p><p>“Koh take the Fire Lord!” the lieutenant hissed with surprising venom. Azula started a bit. “I watched <em>thousands</em> of good men get marched to their deaths at Siwang Gu because of him! He can take his decrees and shove them up his royal-”</p><p>“Alright,” the prince cut him off, rising to his feet and offering the lieutenant a hand, which he hesitantly accepted. “You want to help?” Zuko helped Lee to his feet. “We’re leaving, this morning as the tide comes in. I want you to stay here, burn the posters, and then act as though nothing has changed.”</p><p>“But sir, we-”</p><p>“If you desert, people will notice something unusual. Other soldiers will eventually be sent. Maybe someone will recognize us from these,” Zuko took the poster from Lee. “But if you remain where you are, who’ll even have a reason to come looking this way? You’ll be covering our tracks.”</p><p>“I… see, sir,” the lieutenant sighed one more time, then bowed at the waist. “If that’s what you need. Is there anything else we can do?”</p><p>“I guess you can, um… get us some breakfast before we go?” Zuko scratched the back of his head. “Oh, and wake my sister.”</p><p>“There’s no need,” Azula promptly told him from where she lay. “I’m a light sleeper.”</p><hr/><p>The prince, princess, and several of the uniformed soldiers made their way to the docks at the crack of dawn. The men already knew of a suitable boat, a light but sturdy sailing vessel equipped to spend several days at sea when necessary. The lieutenant had wanted to throw their weight around a little and just commandeer it in the name of the Fire Nation, Zuko insisted on paying the former owner anyway.</p><p>Zuko was the first off of the docks, stepping nimbly onto the plank that served as a bench of sorts, near to the stern. He settled in close to the ship’s tiller, pulling it back and forth experimentally a few times before giving a quick nod to the lieutenant. The officer returned it, then stepped aside when Azula brushed past him, still in her restrictive green robes, making her own slightly more careful way to the water’s edge.</p><p>“Wait, princess,” the other soldier in a firebender’s uniform held out a hand as she made to step off, “before you go, I…” he trailed off when Azula actually turned her head back to glance at him. His sister had that effect on people.</p><p>“Yes?” she prompted after a moment of silence.</p><p>“I… please, forgive me, your highness,” Li bowed his head.</p><p>“Forgive you?” Azula frowned slightly. “For what?”</p><p>“There are a lot of… horrible rumors going around in the military about you,” the firebender confessed.</p><p>She narrowed her eyes. “Such as?”</p><p>“Well…” he swallowed. “That you’re more of a danger to the soldiers under you than the enemy, that you throw men off ships for bringing you bad news, all sorts of terrible things. I believed them. I’m sorry.”</p><p>“If you believed them before, may I ask what prompted this sudden shift in your thinking?”</p><p>“You’re helping your brother,” he replied. “You can’t be that bad.”</p><p>Azula opened her mouth slightly, then said nothing for a short whole.</p><p>“…You are forgiven,” she eventually said, and then turned her back on him. “Zuko, let’s be off.”</p><p>Azula sat down near to the front of the boat, leaning against its side. Soldiers on the docks efficiently untied the ropes binding the small craft’s bow to its bollard, then used a long pole to force the bow to point vaguely towards the northwest. Zuko unfurled the sail with a firm tug, and the white cloth quickly caught the gentle morning breeze. The boat started to move, and the men on the dock moved quickly to undo the line attached to its stern. The small ship began picking up speed, though not as much as the prince would have liked, pulling away from the Haifeng’s docks. There were a few final waves from the Fire Nation soldiers standing there, a half-shouted word of encouragement that earned the man a hand over his mouth from his commanding officer, and then they began to recede along with the rest of the town.</p><p>As the ship slowly drifted towards the open ocean, Zuko glanced forward at his sister, reclining against starboard side with eyes and head slightly tilted in the direction from which they had come. The prince frowned a little himself. He couldn’t help but notice that Azula was looking unusually pensive.</p>
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<a name="section0017"><h2>17. The Western Air Temple</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Back again after a short delay to get a new work up and running. If you've enjoyed this story so far, please consider checking my other work out as well.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The journey across the ocean was a quiet one. Azula sat towards the little sailboat’s prow as it bobbed up and down across the sparkling blue, early morning waves. She reclined against the boat’s edge, arms spread wide across its rim, and watched the sun rise slowly with a thoughtful expression on her face.</p><p>Like so much else that had been happening over the previous few weeks, the events of last night simply did not make sense. She’d seen the posters they’d been sent with her own eyes. The traitor prince and princess were worth several hundred thousand gold pieces each dead, or over a million for each one brought back to the capital alive. Father had taken this whole thing very personally, apparently. Not good, but… she was sure she could think of something at the end of it all. More to the point, even split eight ways the reward for both was more than enough for the soldiers to retire from the army and live comfortably if modestly the rest of their lives, or extravagantly for a few years. Or, if they didn’t wish to leave service, surely those who delivered the Fire Lord’s own treasonous son and daughter could expect promotions and choice assignments where they would never have to risk the grind of frontline combat ever again. And the penalty for being caught aiding them was made so abundantly clear.</p><p>By comparison, what did they hope to gain by letting the duo go without a fight? It was not as though they could have known that their princess was something more and less than a human, was not someone who could be slain in her nonexistent sleep. Merely reporting that the two had been through Haifeng and lying that they had only received the news afterwards would not get them anything close to what was on offer. Did they hope for some reward for their loyalty when Zuko and Azula presumably overthrew their father? A mad long shot if there ever was one, and likely to fall well short of what Ozai was offering right now for his traitor offspring in any case. If they wanted a posting free from the dangers of war that had claimed so many of their fellows, then their best chance lay not in aiding hopeless fugitives but in simply asking after being feted as heroes. And if the Fire Lord ever caught the slightest hint of what the survivors of the 41<sup>st</sup> had done, they would all undoubtedly be executed. No, assassinating the two of them in their sleep and collecting the reward had obviously been their only rational option. But they hadn’t even tried to do so.</p><p>Why?</p><p>Azula turned the maddening question over and over in her mind the whole way across the channel separating the mainland from the northern island and found herself again unable to come up with a clear answer. What could be stronger motivation than fear of the most fearsome man in the greatest empire the world had ever seen <em>and</em> self-promotion combined? She knew what Zuko would say if she asked him, but that was impossible, so she didn’t bother.</p><p>In the end, the princess was glad when her brother guided their little boat into a natural harbor whose location he seemed to already know. It gave her something else to think about. The land here was rocky, steep foothills that almost constituted cliffs in their own right running along the shoreline in both directions as far as the eye could see. The prince pulled the sailboat as close to the rocks as he dared, before hopping out into the waist-deep seawater with a rope in hand, tied firmly to the bow. His muscles visibly strained, and the boat began to move slowly towards the shoreline. Azula leaned over the edge to watch.</p><p>“You’ve been here before, I take it?” she asked him.</p><p>Zuko nodded, grunting as he strained to pull the boat in, waves crashing against him and it alike. She made no move to join him.</p><p>“During your first banishment, then?”</p><p>“I could…” he forced through gritted teeth, wooden hull audibly scraping against the rocks, “use a little help here.”</p><p>“That you could,” she sat back and examined her nails.</p><p>“Hmph,” he snorted a hint of smoke, and then kept pulling.</p><p>It took a few minutes of wrangling, but eventually the sweaty, waterlogged prince managed to force the little sailboat far enough out of the water that they could be reasonably certain that it wouldn’t simply be swept away by the highest tides. For good measure, Zuko tied the other end of his rope around the largest, most stable-looking rock to be found. Only then did he finally lean back against the glistening wet wood, panting audibly and wiping some combination of seawater and sweat from his forehead. Azula chose that moment to hop out onto the shore right beside him.</p><p>“Excellent seamanship,” she said, offering three slow claps. “You ought to have considered a stint in the navy, Zuzu.”</p><p>Zuko just glared sideways at her.</p><p>“So,” she crossed her arms and leaned back against a dry rock, “I presume you know the way from here?”</p><p>“I’ve… only been three times…” he sank down to sit on the shore, still leaning against the boat and breathing heavily. “I’m… pretty sure.”</p><p>“Three times?” the princess raised an eyebrow. “You <em>were</em> desperate.”</p><p>He just gave her another dirty look.</p><p>“And after all that effort you just threw it all away anyway when I simply handed you your redemption as a gift from sister to brother, all neatly wrapped up with a bow,” she glared right back. “I never even got a thank you.”</p><p>Her brother looked down, saying nothing.</p><p>“Thank you, Azula, for disobeying Father’s explicit instructions to save my hide despite having no real need to do so. Thank you for not betraying me when you were Crown Princess, had an army of Dai Li to do your bidding, and could have told Father anything you wanted about what happened. Thank you for demoting yourself in the order of succession so I could be Crown Prince again.”</p><p>Not that she’d ever intended to let him actually inherit, of course – discrediting him just enough to usurp his place in the succession would have been childishly easy before this spirit nonsense. But still, three years of his absence had been enough to convince the princess that the palace décor was missing something without little Zuzu around. When a convenient opportunity arose to bring him back, she’d availed herself of it.</p><p>“You’re <em>so</em> very welcome, Zuko,” she went on in a faux-sweet tone, “Helping one another is what all good siblings do. I’m <em>sure</em> you’d rush to bail me out if I <em>ever</em> needed your assistance.”</p><p>She was mildly surprised to see her brother flinch and look away, refusing to meet her gaze for several seconds.</p><p>“…We’re not here to reminisce,” Zuko took one more deep breath, then stood back up and refocused on her. “We’re here to find the Avatar. Let’s get going before he does.”</p><p>“Oh, very well,” she sighed, pushing herself upright. “We’ll need to get changed first, of course,” Azula glanced down at her stolen clothing and wrinkled her nose. “You could use some dry clothes for our hike, and peasant green really isn’t my color.”</p><p>“I guess you’re right,” he admitted.</p><p>“Aren’t I always?” she smiled sweetly.</p><p>There were plenty of adequately large rocks scattered across the beach to afford the siblings some privacy. A few minutes later and both were dressed again in the red, black, and gold of the Fire Nation, though Zuko’s hair was still mussed while Azula’s remade topknot proudly sported its golden headpiece once again. She still missed her marvelous black armor.</p><p>“Alright,” Zuko told her as they walked together toward a steep-looking rocky edge, “that’s the one closest to where we’re going. It’ll take just a few minutes to climb.”</p><p>“Climb?” Azula raised one eyebrow.</p><p>The princess walked right up to the base of the cliff, curled both hands into fists, holding them down by her sides, and summoned her inner fire. Blue flames, more powerful than ever now that she had no need to be concerned about burning herself, exploded downwards, scorching the white and grey rocks charcoal black. Azula rose rapidly into the air, more fire soon emerging from feet to send her rocketing skywards even faster. She reached the top of the cliff in a few seconds, landing gracefully before spinning around to look down, one hand on her hip.</p><p>“You can fly?!” her brother’s face sported a most amusing gape that she could make out even from on high.</p><p>“You mean you can’t?” she smirked down at him.</p><p>“…You’re going to have to wait for me, you know,” he sounded a little put out.</p><p>“Mmm… no thanks,” she replied, then simply jumped off the cliff.</p><p>She could have landed in any position without pain or lasting injury, of course, but doing a few showy flips on the way down and then sticking the landing flawlessly was just more fun.</p><p>“Why don’t you hand me a rope, Zuzu?” Azula extended one hand generously. “I’ll head back up and help you up again. We’ll get there faster that way.”</p><p>He just narrowed his eyes.</p><p>“If you fall and break your back then that’s my back broken too, dumdum,” she pointed out. “Distrust my concern for you all you like, but at least trust that I have no wish to experience dying of exposure with a shattered spine over the course of several days.”</p><p>“And why would you suddenly want to make the trip go faster?”</p><p>“I promised not to sabotage you, didn’t I? Letting you just fumble around on a cliff sounds like sabotage to me.”</p><p>Her brother seemed to think about it for a moment, then sighed and reached into his bag.</p>
<hr/><p>“So,” Azula said a few minutes later, as the duo were walking along the top of a plateau, a forest coming into view just ahead, “what are you going to say to them?”</p><p>“Hmmm?” Zuko glanced back over his shoulder at her.</p><p>“The Avatar. If we do find him here, then he and his little friends aren’t just to welcome us with open arms after Ba Sing Se. You’re going to have to convince them to let us join. How are you planning to do that?”</p><p>“I should tell you because…”</p><p>“Because I can hardly support your story if I don’t know what it is, having me hide isn’t a viable long-term strategy when I can’t go far from you, and whatever trust you might manage to establish almost certainly wouldn’t survive a revelation that you brought me along in secret anyway.”</p><p>“I… had a few ideas,” he said quietly.</p><p>“Well then, let’s hear them,” she urged as they neared the tree line.</p><p>“And I’m just supposed to believe that you suddenly <em>want</em> to help me join them?”</p><p>“You’ve chosen our fates already. We’re going there to talk to them, and I can’t stop you whatever my personal feelings,” she told him. “Call it morbid curiosity.”</p><p>“…I guess you’re going to hear it anyway,” he sighed.</p><p>“That’s the spirit.”</p><p>“Um, hello,” her brother began. “Zuko here.”</p><p>Azula clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh.</p><p>“But I guess you… probably already knew that,” he cleared his throat. “We’ve… met a few times.”</p><p>“You and your vampire ‘sister’ overthrew Ba Sing Se, won the war for the Fire Nation, and nearly killed the Avatar!” Azula suddenly barked back in a voice much higher pitched than her own. “Give me one good reason we shouldn’t attack you right now!”</p><p>“Well, that’s just it, I was thinking that the Avatar needs a firebending teacher, and I’m considered to be-” Zuko cut himself off, then whirled around to face his sister with eyes wide. “Vampire sister?!”</p><p>“Oh, right, didn’t I mention it?” the princess just smirked at him. “Well, a few days ago, while you were busy ruining both our lives for no discernable reason, I was giving our would-be friends the runaround. Only, thanks to you, I couldn’t run quite as far as I’d been expecting. One of them stuck a sword through my chest.”</p><p>Zuko looked mortified.</p><p>“They were a little bit confused when I declined to lie down and bleed, so I told them that I’m a jiangshi that’s been in our family’s service for centuries.” Her smile didn’t waver. “Hope that won’t be a problem for your sales pitch.”</p><p>“Can’t anything just be easy for once?” he groaned.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Urgh…” the prince had his hand on his forehead. “So, not only do I have to convince these people that the guy who’s been hunting them for months, who betrayed them under Ba Sing Se, is on their side and that his sister that overthrew the Earth Kingdom is a prisoner, I have to convince them that she’s not a blood-drinker too, is that right?”</p><p>“Shouldn’t be too hard for someone with a silver tongue like yours,” she examined her nails again. “After all, blood is much too salty for my tastes.”</p><p>He glared at her. “Anything <em>else</em> I should know about?”</p><p>“No, I’d say you’re up to speed.”</p><p>Zuko’s only response was to grumble something inaudible, turn back around, and march off into the trees with a noticeable slump to his shoulders.</p><p>“Think of it this way, you have what they believe to be an undying abomination that happens to double as the world’s most powerful firebender by your side. Cowing them into accepting you as their new leader shouldn’t be that difficult.”</p><p>“I don’t <em>want</em> to cow them! I want them to trust me!”</p><p>“Yes, trust the man who’s spent every day since the Avatar reemerged hunting him down. The same one that turned on them when given the perfect chance to do otherwise in the crystal caverns. Marvelously tempting prospect. I’m sure they’ll be eating out of the palms of your hands in no time.”</p><p>Her brother looked away.</p><p>“And they would have to be more foolish than even I think they are to take any chances with voluntarily keeping <em>me</em> around,” she told him. “I mean the kind of fool who sometimes forgets how to breathe. A powerful enemy they can’t even hope to scratch, free and right in their midst?” She smiled mirthlessly. “You honestly think you can convince them to accept that?”</p><p>“…I can try.”</p><p>“Face it, brother mine, fear is your only hope here.” She put a hand on his shoulder, which he promptly shrugged off. “You’ve used fear to control me. Why not them? Am I just not as important in your eyes?”</p><p>“You’re an enemy and a prisoner. You had to be stopped, and it was this or something worse. I still don’t like it, but I had to do it.” He shook his head. “But I want them to be friends… or at least not enemies.”</p><p>“Friends?” Azula snorted. “How do you plan to pull that one off if not by fear, I wonder?”</p><p>“I’ll… think of something,” he said, head clutched in both hands.</p><p>“If <em>that’s</em> the best you’ve got, Zuzu, then we may as well turn around right now.” The princess said, leaves crunching audibly beneath her boots. “My offer to help you get whatever it is you’re really seeking and get us back into Father’s good graces still stands, you know.”</p><p>“I’ve already told you what I want, and the answer’s still no.”</p><p>“Well then, we’re both going to be stuck between the Fire Lord and the Avatar, and friends to neither. You and me against the world, I suppose,” she chuckled with just a faint undertone of bitterness. “You didn’t think this part through at all before you left, did you?”</p><p>“And I’m just supposed to start acting like you would, then?” Zuko looked irritably at her. “Something like this?” He cleared his throat again and continued in a high-pitched voice. “Listen Avatar, I can join your group, or I can do something unspeakably horrible to you and your friends. Your choice.”</p><p>“Of course not,” she shook her head emphatically.</p><p>“Oh…” he blinked, “really?”</p><p>“Honestly, Zuzu, I feel almost insulted that you’d associate me with a saying like that.”</p><p>“Um, sorry I guess?” he scratched awkwardly behind his head. “I sorta thought that sounded-”</p><p>“It’s not nearly specific enough,” Azula criticized, hand on hip. “If you want to make an effective verbal threat you either need to be adequately descriptive or have a reliable enough reputation to let their imaginations run wild.”</p><p>“…Oh.”</p><p>“Since it’s <em>you</em>, I’d try something a little more like this.” Her voice dropped a pitch. “Either let me join your group, or I’ll send my unsleeping, unkillable spirit slave after you. She’ll snatch you up one by one, burn out your eyes, your eardrums, your tongues, then cut off your hands and feet and cauterize the stumps. She’ll leave what’s left out for the rest of you to find, one at a time, each and every morning until you see reason.”</p><p>Zuko looked pale. “You’d really do that, huh?”</p><p>“Serve as your assassin?” the princess grinned and gave a mock-bow. “Why, my prince, I’d be thrilled. I can just kill your enemies, of course, or I can mutilate them enough that they wish that I had. It’s all up to your discretion.” She resumed her full height with smile undimmed. “You know that I can’t die as long as you live, so I can attack as recklessly as you please.”</p><p>“Why is your first thought that I should start threatening the lives and limbs of the people I want to join?” His expression made her want to snicker.</p><p>“You’re a prince. You should at least respect your own blood enough to seek to lead them in their mad attempt to overthrow Father, not pretend to be on their level,” she chided. “Look to rule them, not join them, and this will be so much easier.”</p><p>“That’s not the point!” he barked, hand on forehead. “Argh, what’s <em>wrong</em> with you?”</p><p>“It worked for me.” Azula shrugged.</p><p>“It didn’t work last night,” he shot back.</p><p>Azula pursed her lips when she found that she didn’t have a ready reply.</p>
<hr/><p>The walk from the harbor through the forest to the vast canyon hosting the Western Air Temple only took about an hour or so, mostly spent in silence while Zuzu doubtless wracked his brains for what he was supposed to tell the Avatar and friends. When they did finally step free from the sea of green, Azula would admit that the view wasn’t half bad. The breathtaking gorge spreading out before her as far as the eye could see in either direction looked easily over a mile across. How far down it went even she didn’t know, a layer of white-grey mist far below preventing her from even hazarding a guess. Strong winds, clean and pure as any she’d ever felt, whipped through her hair, carrying her bangs hither and yon as she stared out over the yawning abyss.</p><p>“So,” she began. “I presume we’re to rappel down to the buildings hanging on the underside?”</p><p>“You know about them?” Zuko looked mildly surprised. “You’ve never been here before.”</p><p>“Some of us bothered to review the full history of Great-Grandfather’s opening gambit in the Royal Archives, you know.”</p><p>The soldiers’ reports had mentioned how difficult it was to scout out the area before the comet’s power had granted even the more mediocre firebenders among them the power of flight. Then it had been all over within the space of minutes. The temple’s entire population of women and children were exterminated before anything more than sporadic resistance could form. Only a handful of desperate escapees, all reported hunted down and eliminated within weeks. A glorious and complete victory if there had ever been one.</p><p>“I suppose I should have expected that,” he sighed.</p><p>“Yes. Yes, you should have,” Azula watched as her brother affixed his length of rope to a particularly sturdy-looking juniper tree. “I’m expected to use that, I presume?”</p><p>“I don’t want you giving us away before we’re ready with a burst of blue fire,” he confirmed.</p><p>“As you wish, then.”</p><p>The two siblings experienced little difficulty descending the steep cliffside. Azula went first, of course, to make sure that they wouldn’t both be killed by something as stupid as shoddy knotsmanship after coming all this way. Once she had gotten as far down as her chains would permit, Zuko followed her down the rope, and within a short while both of them were standing on one of the curious apparently upside-down structures that made up the temple complex. A weather-beaten statue of some unknown airbending nun loomed over them, but Azula paid it no mind. Her attention, and her brother’s, was wholly elsewhere.</p><p>“See anything?” the prince asked, peering out over the long-deserted temple.</p><p>“Look there,” the princess pointed towards a spot north of their position.</p><p>Zuko squinted. “One of the buildings is half-missing,” he said. “Looks… recent. I can’t see any erosion.”</p><p>“Shall we investigate?”</p><p>“I’m not seeing anything else to go by. But keep it quiet.”</p><p>“Anyone here won’t hear a thing,” she promised.</p><p>Prince and princess made their way through winding, dusty hallways filled with ancient murals and statuary, crossed narrow stairways built into the cliff itself in almost perfect silence. The corridors were spacious, wide windows everywhere and green mosses growing here and there where water was dripping slowly from the ancient ceilings. There was a pronounced echo to even the slightest noise here. How fortunate even little Zuzu was light on his feet.</p><p>It was when the pair of them were slipping quietly down another hallway, this one wet and smelling faintly of mildew, that Zuko’s head turned slightly. The renegade prince abruptly slammed himself into a wall next to a broad opening that might have been window or door to an Air Nomad. Azula didn’t need to be told to do likewise, pressing herself as closely as possible to a stone mural that had long had most of its paint worn away. Her brother, seeming to hold his breath, peered hesitantly around the corner. When he didn’t say anything for a few seconds, the princess took that as her cue and crouched down beside him, face stuck out just far enough for her amber eyes to take in the scene. This particular portal opened to face the misty canyon proper, and for a moment she wondered what Zuzu saw. Then she spotted faint movement coming from nearer the opposite side of the gorge and knew that they’d found him at last.</p><p>The Avatar.</p><p>Only… Azula frowned as the distant figure slowly grew larger and larger, soaring in on some new blue glider from the other wall. She’d seen the boy flying a glider before, but it had always been smooth, practiced. Now, as he drew closer to their hidden vantage, she could see that he was bobbing up and down, almost alarmingly so at times, once even threatening to dip below the mist. Their quarry continued to grow on the horizon, and the answer soon became blindingly clear.</p><p>The princess got a good look at the Avatar as he swept past, angling away from them. There were burns, angry red and blistering, running up and down the bare right side of his body, only partially concealed by dressings of white cloth. A jagged wound ran up across his forehead to the top of his scalp, the deep black of dried blood cutting through the deep blue of his cranial tattoo. From what she could perceive of his expression from this distance, it was profoundly somber, with another cut peeling back a corner of his young lips. The Avatar was holding on to his glider with just one hand, a bundle of white cloth pressed closely to his chest as if it were the most precious thing in the world. She could just barely make out hints of green sticking out of his burden here and there.</p><p>“Did you do all of that?” Zuko whispered to her.</p><p>“No,” Azula shook her head, eyes narrowed. “I gave him a burn on his wrist, but none of the rest. He didn’t have any of them back in the bunker, either.”</p><p>“Could he have gotten them in the aerial battle afterwards?”</p><p>“Could be…” she cocked her head, squinting at the distant figure as best she could. “But they look too fresh for that.”</p><p>“Fresh?” her brother blinked. “But how could-” Zuko suddenly stiffened, cutting himself off right there.</p><p>Azula got the distinct impression that he knew something that she didn’t. She eyed her brother carefully, before returning her gaze to the far-off building where their quarry was coming down. When his feet touched the stone floor near a fountain that was somehow still working, they did it gingerly. The princess could see even from where she was that he was walking with a pronounced limp on his right side, leaning heavily on his staff and left foot. Despite his clear difficulty, no one emerged from the old temple complex to help support him.</p><p>“That’s odd,” she muttered. “Where are the rest of them?”</p>
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